


Blue Sakura

by Aingeeal



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Falling In Love, Fucked up pasts, Hinata Shouyou swears a lot, M/M, Slow Burn, They're kinda ooc I know, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-07-12 06:36:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 61,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15989711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aingeeal/pseuds/Aingeeal
Summary: Tobio stood there, not quite sure how to proceed, until Hinata's breathing became rhythmic and the boy fell asleep peacefully in the bed that he had been rolling on and on. It was standing there that Tobio realized that people were right when they talked about love. It's like the rain. You can see the signs if you are paying attention, but you are still caught totally off guard.He felt his heart skip a beat inside his chest and took a deep breath."I'm sorry," he whispered "I didn't mean it, but I think I'm falling in love with you."





	1. People that don't like to lose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHE LIVES! 
> 
> Here I am again, mortals, once more with the Flourist/Tattoo Artist AU no one asked for!
> 
> • Little warning, they're pratically ooc, I'm aware of that and it was written with that intention. 
> 
> Quick reminder that this is my own universe, so don't expect anything that happened in canon.  
> This story will DEFINITELY change the rating, so stay tuned (although I will warn you in the notes).  
> Tags will be added as well!
> 
> I'll try to update weekly, but since english it's not my mother language I'm still translating it the original story (written in portuguese), SO if you see any typing error, leave in the commments and I'll fix it!
> 
> Without furder ado, enjoy!

To be honest, the apron had not gone as bad as he thought it would. Not that white and gold embroidered flowers were his first choice of clothes in the morning, but uniform was uniform, and getting used now was better than fighting the inevitable.

Kageyama Tobio looked once more at the reflection that stared back at him, pale with the light of the lamp in the bathroom. He sighed and adjusted his hair as much as he could, trying to make it look softer and not so messy. He remembered when his mother spent precious minutes of her day before leaving for work to leave him with a presentable hairstyle, since his hair had always been too smooth for any other idea. The thin, long fingers running fast on his wet hair. As soon as the thought came, Tobio shut it down. No, now wasn’t the time to think about your mother. Everything was going well and today was his first day of work, he could not be shaken by personal situations that definitely wouldn’t help him.

After realizing that no matter what he did his hair would still remain the same, he grunted and started down the stairs of his apartment. It wasn’t much, but for someone living alone about to start college, it was enough.

Tobio had been in at least three pensions while looking for a decent job close enough to his future campus, and he had to admit that was the best place so far. The apartment was small and without many separations between the rooms, so some people could easily confuse his sofa with his bed, which made sense, because building a room above a shop seemed complicated. The only window he had was turned to the backs into an alley where normally new material was delivered, and Tobio wasn’t brave enough to let it open.

As he locked the doors and went down the spiral staircase that would lead him to the real shop, he mentally thanked once again for founding a place like that. Bumping into Yachi Hitoka in the bakery had been a blessing. For her, not so much, after all she ended up in the floor along with her new brought cookies. After a brief conversation, many apologies and a new bag of cookies, he discovered that the girl, though young, owned a flower shop just a few blocks away from his future university. Fortunately, her last employee had moved away and they needed someone as fast as possible to cover it up. It didn’t take long for him to get the job, and soon after, a place to stay, since she was moving with her girlfriend and the room where she lived would be empty. He just didn't consider it would end up being the most known flower shop in the area.

The flower shop was a generously large place, and Tobio noticed that Yachi-san had worked hard to make Heaven's an perfect establishment. It was decorated with plants hanging from the ceiling, a counter with shelves of succulents and mini cacti, and throughout the shop it was possible to find different flowers, from the most common to the rarest. Sugawara, the boy with whom he would share his duties, was in charge of acquiring new plants and organizing stock, and Tobio would be left with the plant-care area, which was dangerous, since the last living being left in his care had been a fish a year ago and had died in a week.

“Good morning, Kageyama-kun!” He was greeted by a happy voice as he passed the shop door. Sugawara, or Suga, as he preferred to be called, was in his final year of engineering, and was studying on the same campus that Tobio would attend in a few days. It was not exactly unusual, most people from that neighborhood frequented it, since it was the local university.

“Suga-san.” He answered politely and went to the back of the counter.

“You look nervous.” Suga smiled at him leaning with his elbows on the counter, his apron identical to Tobio's kneading with the pressure of his body. “Don’t be. I told you, the first few days is just watching how I do, you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure. Not that it's too complicated,” he chuckled,"it's just selling flowers.”

“At the biggest flower shop in Tokyo.” Tobio completed, and Suga smiled while shaking his hand.

“Details.”

They both knew he was right. It was amazing that a young woman like Yachi-san had been able to build a place like that and reach the the top so quickly. Heaven's really was a renowned place, somewhere you could always find what you were looking for, it didn’t matter how exotic and weird that was. People came from far away looking for a certain rose, and they paid a good amount for it. This was part of Suga's job, which was making the requests to the nearest farming companies. Taking a deep breath, the brunette did as he was told.

He watched how Suga worked and the order he he performed his duties, even if they were slightly different from his. Tobio had always been a fast learner, and soon he started to make mental notes, like: certain flowers needed more water than others, some were watered only in the lower part of the jar, others were all the time near the windows because they needed more luminosity, and some were in the cold chamber, which shared the second floor with his apartment. It would take him a few days to memorize how each was maintained, but he had to admit that it was not so complicated and could be distracting, making both of them lose notion of time.

A few moments later, a customer entered the shop hesitantly and looked around, looking for where to start. Suga welcomed her with a smile and asked howw he could help her. Tobio didn’t listen and she explained to him, but hhe nodded and went straight to the daisies area, and after a few moments and tips from the boy she came out with a bouquet made of various colors and props.

The shop movement was ... good. Yachi-san came every afternoon to chat and to check if they needed anything, but all the rest of the day the door was not kept closed for more then five minutes and the most diverse things were sold or ordered.

When it was empty, Suga would call him to show something or give him some specific detail about some flower. The boy was extremely nice and despite being older he treated all people as equals with respect and kindness.

At one point, Tobio was carried away by the beauty of the colors that each petal shifted when it was illuminated by the sunlight. Well, he wasn’tt enrolled in the arts course for nothing. His eyes captured colors and feelings differently, and since child he had always been in love with any kind of art. And flowers and arrangements were art. Right? Maybe the flower shop would help him with more than just money.

Tobio never had long creative blocks or problems with inspiration, but he always liked to paint things more colorful than the normal environment. The fun part of having the diversity of paints was being able to use them and mix them to a new emotion, and no matter what they said, flowers were great for that.

“Good morning guys!” A female voice greeted them shortly after the door bell rang. Tobio raised his head to see the blonde enter the shop and wave a hello in Suga’s direction. She repeated the action to him, who responded after hesitating.

“Good morning, Yachi!” Suga's voice sounded from the other side of the shelves.

"How's the first day, Kageyama-kun?" She asked as she took a blond stray out of her eyes and leaned her purse on a chair behind the counter.

"It will take a while to get used to it, but I certainly will. I promise to be helpful!” He bowed his head to the girl, but she dismissed him with a wave of hands and a smile.

“Don’t worry about it. I hope you like it here.” She smiled and looked back at Suga. "I came to leave my things here, but I need to get a new phone charger, like, now. I promise to be quick! Kiyoko's cat ate a piece of mine last night and only stopped when the sparks began to fly on his muzzle.” She frowned remembering. "I'll be right back, okay?"

They both nodded and watched as she made her way back to the exit. As she was about to get to the door, a loud sound of music exploded at them from the right wall of the shop, loud enough to make some leaves vibrate in sync with the rhythm. Tobio was startled and covered his ears, but he frowned when he noticed that the rap song was probably the work of some imbecile, not an earthquake that would bury him forever. Suga looked genuinely curious and he checked his watch as Yachi sighed looking at the ceiling and at the chandelier that bobbed discreetly.

“He started early today. Yesterday it only began close to noon.” Suga informed her, lowering his wrist and putting his hands on his waist. Yachi grunted but straightened her hair, as if she was trying not to be swayed out of her way.

"I don’t have time to deal with Red today. Can you do this for me, Suga? I know he usually only listens to me, and it still depends on the day, but deep down he likes you.” She smiled sweetly as if she needed more than a 'please' to get Suga talking to the guy. The boy raised an eyebrow at her, indicating that perhaps the smile was not enough.

“Deep down? You have to look really hard, after all, it's hollow inside.” he replied. Yachi didn’t give him more time to say no, waving a goodbye and jumping out of the shop. Suga sighed with closed eyes and looked at Tobio over his shoulder. “Can you run the shop for about 10 minutes? I need to do something.”

“I... I think so.” He stuttered. "But what the hell is going on?" He said louder so that his voice reached Suga on the other side of the shelves of sunflowers. The boy rolled his eyes and approached the brunette behind the counter.

“I don’t know if you've paid attention, but our shop shares walls with the tattoo studio next door. - He pointed the wall next to them with his finger. “Really, all the boys are cool, you’ll end up meeting them some time. Yachi and the boys are friends, and agreeded to split the lot to pay less taxes, the problem is that Red is a difficult guy. And ... Well, he likes to work with music.”

"Is she friends with him as well?" Tobio asked.

"I don’t know if anyone it’s his friend for real. Well, I mean ... on his point of view, you know?” Suga shrugged as he dropped the apron over his neck, folding it carefully. “He's complicated.”

"And clearly deaf." Tobio announced. Suga smiled at him but shrugged.

“He's ok. Sometimes. Maybe a bit reserved with the others and rude with whoever he doesn’t like, but he can be chill. But he forgets that the sound spreads very easily. These are dry walls, for God’s sake. I'll just go in there and ask him to lower it a _little_ bit. I'll be right back.”

Tobio nodded and watched as Suga walked out the door and walked to the next shop. In the silence of the store, the music seemed even louder. It bothered him slightly, not because he didn’t like the style, but because he knew that if he was listening like _that_ , probably this dude had it playing in the maximum volume, leaving him more and more invisible to the world. How could anyone work with him on the same roof!? And ... was that frequent? It was definitely a problem. It actually took about 10 minutes for the sound to come down, not completely, but enough to make Tobio able to talk and receive people with a civilized voice. Suga came back wide-eyed and put on his apron again.

“I'll tell you something, he's in a bad mood.” He announced as both of them got back to work.

For a first day that could’ve been so much more chaotic, Tobio was happy. It was not a tiresome job and he could be inspired every day with different scenarios and people. He would pick up the afternoon shift, since he lived there so there was no problem closing it at the end.

The day went on without any more issues and he actually started to notice some things about how Suga worked. That was all he was thinking about when the shift ended and he went upstairs to his own small place. No doubt he could make some work in there and he definitely could study while working. After a hot bath, Tobio made some instant food and sat down on his balcony, waiting for the food to get ready. He ate it right there, using one hand to hold the chop sticks and the other to draw. He began doodling on some blank sheets some of the flowers he had seen that morning or some customers. He focused on the girl with the daisies and how anxious she looked. The slow, dedicated work was pleasing and soothing him, and soon enough he would get enough sleepy to turn off the TV. He passed the pen gently on a place, making a well-drawn line to highlight the curve of the petals, but all went to the air when a burst of voice and musical beat crossed the wall right behind his head. After grunting at the ruined work, the second thing Tobio did was look at the clock. Honestly, he did noticed the time he'd spent drawing and...and... that sound, in that volume, was that even legal!? Someone would probably call the police. Tobio growled to himself and stood up, tapping the wall with his open hand. What was that idiot still doing in the studio? Didn’t he had a home?

"Jesus, turn it down." Tobio whispered to himself. Knowing that the creature on the other side would never hear him, he tapped the wall one more time, this time stronger, careful not to make a hole between them. “Oi, knock it off!” He screamed. It was no big surprise when the volume increased. "You gotta be kidding me."

Tobio had to stand there for at least five whole minutes to realize that no, Red would not turn down the music. The brunette ran to his school bag and pulled out his earphones, quickly positioning each one on it’s proper place. As he snapped them into his phone, Tobio reached for the calmer music he had and plunged under the covers, trying to fight the loud music with some classics. It was not muffling completely, but at least it helped. Tobio would be surprised if he didn’t woke up singing it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“What a dumbass!” Suga was greeted by a hoarse voice and tired eyes decorated by gigantic dark circles. For a brief moment, his first instinct was to laugh, but Tobio seemed ready to tear someone's head off as he roughly tied his apron around his waist, so Suga bit his lips and concentrated on working.

"Had a bad night?" He asked quietly, putting the jar of gerberas on the floor so he could clear the shelf of the jars. Tobio grunted as he did the same on the other side, angrily holding the cleaning product.

"How late does this freaking studio closes!? It was dawn already and that idiot was in full swing. I thought someone was going to end up calling the police and I'm honestly surprised that this someone wasn’t me. Honestly, does he live in the shop he works, too!? Am I being doomed? I don’t know how to handle this, I though I did, I though it was just some minutes, maybe an hour, not the whole night! If only the songs were different, but no, he insisted on repeating the Eminem album three times at least _in a row_. I didn’t even know that "The Marshall Mathers" had a second part!” Tobio exclaimed in a single breath.

“Woah, Kageyama-kun!” Suga laughed lightly “Sorry about your night. I told you that he was in a bad mood yesterday. He's probably going to be off today, so maybe we'll be free of Eminem.”

"It was not just Eminem, he had-"

“I got it.” Suga laughed “Go get a coffee in the kitchen, you look like someone who is about to have a syncope at any moment. I asked Yachi to change our shifsts tomorrow so I can show you the campus iin the morning. What do you think? A good idea?" he said as he saw Tobio's eyes widen brightly. "Great, now go get your coffee, don’t add sugar on it."

Suga watched as the brunette dragged his feet to the coffee machine and filled a whole mug without any hesitation.

"I didn’t know you liked coffee that much." Suga smiled.

“I don’t like coffee.” Tobio said as he took the first big sweep. Suga raised an eyebrow in silence, but didn’t answer. He went back to focus on the plants as Tobio slowly drank it all, staring fixedly at the wall in conjunction with the studio. Suga suppressed a sigh. Red was definitely a tough person, but apparently he was finding an matching opponent. Suga glanced at Tobio, and when he felt the boy was already mentally present in the room, he started talking.

“I never completely understood why Yachi and Red are friends. I mean, they're really different. Yachi always smiles and is kind, but every time I see Red, whether on the street or at Ink Oz itself, I feel like he doesn’t like anything or anyone. Which surprises me, since he was the one who suggested that Yachi opened the shop here.” He paused and noticed that Tobio was watching him in silence. "If you ask her, Yachi will tell you that he's complicated, but he's a good person. Maybe I agree to that. I think he wwent through some rough things to become the kind of person he is today. I believe that everything a person does has a motive and not only good things, bad ones as well. Maybe music helps him, maybe he just likes to pester others, I don’t know..." Suga shrugged as she put the cloth back into the pocket of his apron. "I know he can be a nice person, if only he gave a chance for others to get to know him better.”

“I think he's an idiot until the second order.” Tobio said more calmly. "It's going to be hard to do the college assignments and even get some sleep while I feel inside a concert”. Suga smiled at him.

"The next time I have to go in there, I’ll ask the boys to give the message to everyone, even to Red. Now the apartment is no longer empty.”

"It won’t be necessary, I believe he already knows," Tobio said as he washed the mug in the sink. "It was a noise war last night, loud and annoying music versus me punching the wall like a maniac. I think he enjoyed making my night a hell. Dumbass.” Suga rolled his eyes.

“People that don’t like to lose are the worst."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo?  
> Leave comments, please! Let me know what you think it's gonna happen.  
> And oh boy, blame me, I love Eminem.
> 
> It's a small chapter, but let's see how this goes, it's just the pilot!


	2. Sometimes people become disappointments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo people! How you've been?
> 
> Thank you for the commments on the last chapter, the kudos and everything, you guys are so sweet! ♥  
> Well, I guess it's time we meet Red then?  
> ..... ... Good luck Tobes
> 
> (English it's not my mother language. Saw any type or error? Tell me so I can fix it!)
> 
> Go go, let's go, let's go!

The campus was everything Tobio imagined it would be. He received the answer from his college admission essay shortly after doing so, and simply by the design of the acceptance letter he knew he was in love with place already. Pathetic? Yes. The brick walls and benches scattered around the garden made the atmosphere look old and quiet and the building reminded him of a small castle more than a school. There were some students walking around, probably solving pending issues from the previous years and some seemed to have used the campus as a picnic spot. Suga's course was on the other side of the building, so he concentrated on making the long way, passing through various places until they reached their classrooms. He showed him where the cafeteria was and how he could get the freshest food. Important tips, like "do not use the fourth-floor bathroom, it stinks" were also shared and soon Tobio felt like he could meet the whole building in just one day.

Part of himself wanted to call his parents, bombard them with pictures of the place he would soon attend to and maybe he could hear the compliments he had heard so much as a child. ‘Our son is an artist!’, always pronounced with pride. Yeah ... maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.

When both of them started feeling hungry, they sat down at one of the tables and ate together as they talked.

"You don’t have to worry about shifts, okay? Lev's classes start at night and having to stay in the shop for another hour if you're late is not a problem. Yachi would have to pay him overtime, but he is a good boy and usually uses the extra money to buy us donuts the next day.”

"Tell me more about this Lev. I haven’t met him yet.” Tobio said in a low voice. “Everytime I get there, he already left.”

"No surprise, our schedules are very different. He's... peculiar. Lev is part russian, and he is too big for the whole lack of control he has. He came to Tokyo with a cousin, apparently the guy needed someone to share an appartment. He’s a figure skater who's training another figure skater. Weird, but ok. Lev tried skating too, didn’t worked out. “ Suga laughed. “But he is a good boy, he studies in the same course as Yachi, so they know each other from there.”

"He studies agronomy?" Tobio asked with his eyebrows shooting up and Suga laughed again.

"You're not the only one with a different course between us, even though we're the city boys and you're the one from the countryside. After all, why did you decide to go with arts? I mean, I know you draw, Yachi told me and I saw you doodle flowers yesterday, but ... have you always wanted this?”

Tobio took some time to respond. He played with the straw in his mouth and looked around, gathering words that could satisfy the boy's curiosity without letting go more than he would like at the moment.

"My father was a painter, but he was never famous or anything. He quit it when I was born to help my mother raise me. I believe that having to give up off his dream because of me made him a little obsessed. He forced me to draw and to learn his talents and everything I know he was the one who taught me. He has his flaws, but he's always been a wonderful father to me, until...” Tobio blinked a few times and shook his head. “Anyway, I liked to draw and he pushed me to do better, to _be_ better. I’ve always liked to make him happy. When I felt I was good enough, I took the admission test here, even though I knew it was on the other side of the world and Miyagi would be left behind. I had some minor reasons for coming to live in Tokyo, and that ... did not please him at all. We're kind of ... shaken, I guess.”

"Don’t say it like that," Suga comforted him. The light-haired boy seemed to understand that from where this preview had come, the story was much deeper, but he didn't forced anything. "I'm sure you'll be a great artist someday, and you'll make your father proud of who you've become.”

It seemed a crude idea considering all that had happened, but Suga had no way of knowing. To him, Tobio's relationship with his father was only hurt with a thorn that could be removed anytime, when actually Tobio had pratically kicked the bush. Anyway, he thanked Suga with a shy smile on his lips.

They left the campus when it started to get dark and Suga went straight home. Tobio still spent some time in the shop, helping with the flow of customers that usually increased in the last hours and finally talking to the russian previously introduced, before climbing the stairs and lying in bed. He spent a few minutes looking at the pictures he took while standing in the campus garden as he thought about his day. It was true that his situation with his family was troubed, but despite all the wrong decisions that brought him here, he didn’t regret it. Just like he did everyday in the morning, he shook his own head. He wouldn’t allow the past mess up his future. What was done, was done. He wondered if it was possible for people to have a family like his and feel happy still. What was Suga's family like? Happy, probably, proud of a perfect son.

Tobio sighed and dropped his phone on purpose, putting an arm over his eyes. He knew he should call. A letter, a message, smoke signal, anything, but he couldn’t force himself to do it. Hypothetically, switching places with his parents, he would wait for an answer, after all it was fair. They only child had simply turned his back on the house where he had always lived and left the world without much explanation, it was enough for him to contact his parentes, he knew about that. But... he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough.

Leaving his phone close on the ground, Tobio fell asleep, this time under the greatest silence he could’ve imagine.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The week was going better than he thought. Every day Tobio felt more confortable about his duties and tasks. He already knew how to handle most plants without having to ask Suga all the time and he was struggling to become indispensable, since he needed the money to pay college. Suga was becoming a good friend, and even Lev, who was kind of bizarre, could be a funny person. Every afternoon, Yachi-san came to check the shop's flow and throb about improvements, like which flowers were most wanted and what they were doing right and wrong. It was kind of a meeting, but with tea and cookies.

Tobio was anxious. Tomorrow he would be seated at a desk having his first class, and although he knew that college was usually a nightmare, he was shaking to get his hands back on a brush and let the wrist move slowly, carrying the paint on the canvas and letting the pictures speaks for him. He missed like hell.

It was that morning that everything started to go wrong.

Once again, Tobio had to ask himself. Am I doomed?

When the bell rang, both boys raised their heads to meet an old lady entering the shop. She seemed a little lost as she wandered around looking at everything while carrying a piece of paper. Suga gave Tobio a wink and aproached her with a sweet smile.

“Welcome to Heaven’s. My name is Suga, how can I help you?”

“Oh darling...” she said with a shy smile “My granddaughter is getting married today, but something wrong happened with the delivery of some flowers, among them the bouquet, and she asked me to buy these again.” the smiling lady handed him the paper, and Suga read at least two times before looking up again. "I told her to don’t buy these things online but young people never listen to us.” she chuckled and Suga smiled.

"Don't worry, we'll sort this out. Off all the flowers listed here, we don’t have any more lavenders and blue roses, but I have something that may be a little better. C'mon, let me show you...” He motioned for her to follow him on the stairs towards the cold chamber. They were in the middle of the way when suddendly a loud music began to play, practically impregnating the delicate shop with a teenage party air. Tobio looked at Suga who breefly closed his eyes. It had been a few perfect silent days, but life was cruel. The old lady seemed scared for a second and then scandalized with the words the song was using to rhyme. Suga bit his lips and looked at Tobio.

"Kageyama-kun, could you speak to them, please? Just ask them to turn the sound down a little.” Without waiting for an answer, he apologized to the lady and dissapeared upstairs.

_Do what?!_

With a grunt and cheeks flushed with embarrassment, Tobio released the apron that was tied to his torso and headed out of the shop. It was already difficult for him to talk to people he knew, going suddendly in a place he never saw anyone and ask something like that? Hard limit. For the last few days he had been paying attention to the dark, vivid façade beside the flower shop. Ink Oz was a relatively small establishment compared to Heaven's.

The signs above the door glowed in neon tones, and there was a phone number carefully crafted with red graphite. Though it seemed a scary place, Tobio was intrigued by the mystery the place presented, and maybe that was the reason why so many people choose there to craft new drawings into their bodies. From the street you could hear the sound as easily as the flower shop. Grunting once more, he walked into the studio.

The walls around him were made of black and white tiles and there were several red benches for a waiting room. A guy at least eight feet tall was sitting waiting for his schedule, too distracted with a magazine, as if the studio was not blowing out because of a song. Was he used to it? Oh God. Oddly, Tobio realized that inside the room, or at least on the first floor, the music didn't seemed so loud. He followed the stairs to the second floor and wondered if the idiot worked there. He glanced around quickly, avoiding the various mirrors and forced himself to ignore the girl standing in a compromising position on a chair. She pulled her long blond hair back and looked over her shoulder at the man who was tattooing her ass.

“Are you finishing?” she whimpered. The black-haired guy rolled his eyes and finished a stroke, before pulling the mask off his mouth and giving her a mischievous grin.

"It's already over, sweetheart. You can check in the mirror if you want to, and then just meet Kenma in the front.” He started to gather his material while the girl smiled back at him. She waited for him to finish the bandages and pulled the jeans up again, now hiding a huge phoenix sketch that pulled from her waist to her thighs. If the guy hadn’t said anything, Tobio probably wouldn’t have noticed the silent counter near the door. The boy was playing a gameboy and his blonde dyed hair was already showing the roots. He lowered the console with a bored face as the girl handed him a credit card. Tobio waited for her to make the payment in a hurry, worried about Suga's situation with the lady.

As the girl walked out the door, shooting the tattoo artist a wink, he headed for the balcony.

“Hi ... my name is Kageyama Tobio, I'm Heaven's new employee... er... could you ask R-Red to lower the music a little? He seems to be playing himself and having a rap battle in the middle of our flowers.” Tobio said with a frown. The blonde looked up sharply at him before looking at the tattoo artist, who was now taking off his gloves.

“Kuroo.” He asked. "Ask Red to lower it? It's Heaven's second complaint this week.”

The guy, Kuroo, smiled at them and saluted before climbing up to the second floor in large jumps.

"Sorry," Kenma said in a low voice, returning his attention to Tobio, "Red sometimes flees a little out of our control. No wonder that the second floor is exclusively his room.” _That explains the reason for the prank with the music_ , Tobio thought, since they both shared walls as well. Tobio smiled briefly at the blonde and waited while Kuroo did his magic.

“Sorry, I'm late!” A voice rang out of a secondary room. A boy with spiky hair and green eyes came walking towards the huge man waiting at the reception “You're 14:00, right? My name is Iwaizumi, I’ll be making yours today.” They both greeted each other. Tobio found it funny as a guy smaller than that the client could impose an aura of leadership like that. Iwaizumi saw Tobio standing at the desk as he returned to one of the chairs the blonde girl was seated. "Are you here to add a new one, kid? The schedule is full today.”

“Ah! No, actually I came...”

“Done!” Kuroo announced, walking down the stairs smiling, leaving behind a softer music a lot calmer than before. “Do you think this is good? I don’t know if I can convince him to lower it more than this...” he laughed.

“I- I think so.” Tobio replied hesitantly.

"Ah, so you're Yacchan's new boy?" Iwaizumi asked, as he positioned the immense being in front of him sitting with his leg up. “Sugawara told us about you. He said Red was driving you crazy, now that you're living in her old apartment. He leaves us all, kid, don’t worry.” Iwaizumi put on two gloves and frowned as he searched for an unmarked place to develop his new work.

Tobio thought it odd that Suga was friends with that people, they seemed so... diferent, but the boy had warned him that he would eventually meet them all, and he had to admit that those three didn’t look like bad people. Kuroo leaned against the counter and Kenma was concentrating on the game, not listening to the conversation anymore.

"It's just..." Tobio admitted, "sometimes he decides to listen to music at wrong times. Not to mention the awful playlist.”

Kuroo laughed and closed his eyes.

"What would I give to see Red’s face if someone told that at his face!”

“What's being said to my face?” a new voice joined in the conversation. Tobio followed the sound until he found himself looking at a boy who was standing at the top of the stairs. The first thing that surprised him was that he had nothing to do with anyone there. All three could be any kind of employee, and the strangest thing here was Kenma's dyed hair and the reamer in Kuroo's ear. Yes, all of them had tattoos, but they seemed to be sporadic. Red was totally different.

The boy shouldn't be taller than his shoulder, and his bright orange hair would distract anyone from anything else in the studio. Not that he needed, he had more attitude than anyone there. The curly wicks were wilde around his face and he was crossing his arms, revealing the heavy full pattern of lines and colors that didn't leave an inch of his skin uncovered. Through his face, Red had a collection of piercings and his brown eyes were cold.

“New client?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, carrying two black rings together. "You need an appointment."

"I'm not a customer." Tobio said, frowning even more. Probably he should remember being kind to his neighbors, but that arrogant feature was driving him insane. “My name is Kageyama Tobio. I'm from Heaven's and I came here to ask to lower the music. You're scaring the whole neighborhood, you know that?”

Again, Red raised his eyebrows and then played with the ring around his lip with his fingers.

"I don’t remember asking."

Tobio felt the blood start to boil and out of the corner of his eye he saw when Iwaizumi simply put on his mask and went to work, Kuroo going slowly behind the counter biting his lips pretending to pay attention to the third member who was still impassive while playing his gameboy. Tobio forced the air in and out of his lungs before turning his back.

"Have some education and keep it down." He concentrated on finishing there and went to the door.

"Oh, I see... you're one of those..." Red laughed to himself. Tobio paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder.

“What you mean?”

“Daddy's little boy. I’m sure of it.” He said smiling, watching as each muscle in Tobio's body contracted. "I’m right, aren’t I? You mut be the kind of person who grew up with the father teaching you how good you could be, you just want to make him proud, and that’s why education seems like a huge thing.” He laughed again. "Man, how pathetic.”

Tobio stared at the stairs until finally meeting Red’s line of vision.

"You know nothing about my life, and you shouldn’t go around making presumptions. Someday somebody's going to lose patience with you, idiot.” Tobio threatened softly. The client doing the tattoo looked from side to side, following a game of verbal ping-pong, but none of the other staff tried to stop the storm from forming. Tobio was beginning to feel his fists tremble and that wasn’t a good sign.

Red finished down the steps and filled a glass with water. He drank in silence and smiled again, turning his back on Tobio.

"This is the worst kind of people. People who think that life can be corrected after innumerable mistakes and that we can be truly happy learning from them.” He laughed and shrugged, swinging the army jacket he was wearing. "That's what families like yours usually try to teach their children. You are who you are, and you should improve more and more, right? But it's not always like that. Sometimes people become disappointments, children become disappointments. So you go into crisis, you get confused for small shit, innocent of the world around you and how many people's lives are worse, thinking your broken nail is awful. And it’s precisely because of this broken nail that I don’t give a damn about what you say about me.” He paused again on the last step of the stairs, completely relaxed. ”Cry to daddy, cry to mommy, I don’t care, just get the fuck out of my studio.”

Tobio kept staring, oblivious to the hissing of the needle machine in the man's leg and trying not to think about the words thrown at him. He took a deep breath and prepared to retaliate, but was interrupted by the studio door opening.

“Kageyama-kun! There you are. Why did it take so long? Oh, hello boys.”

“Sugawara.” Kuroo greeted him with an embarrassed smile. When the boy noticed the tension that was in the air, he looked around, realizing that Red and Tobio kept staring at each other, both practically burning with hate. Carefully he nodded at Red, who did not respond and pulled Tobio by the arm.

“Thanks for stopping the music, Red. Come on.”

Unable to think of an appropriate response, Tobio let himself be dragged out of that place with cold golden eyes following without any signs of guilt.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He took a deep breath at least three times before pressing the green button and putting the phone to his ear. Tobio kept his eyes closed and his fingers massaging his temples, which throbbed with every tone as he waited for the other side to pick up, as if the SWAT battalion itself was encouraging him to cancel that stupid idea and keep pretending that nothing ever happened.

“Hello?” A voice caught him by surprise on the other end of the line. He focused on closing his eyes tightly, so with luck his head would explode and he would be spared from further conversations. After 10 seconds, he remembered that humans had to breathe and pulled a good amount of air in. “Who's this? Anybody there?”

The voice was sweet. Too sweet for the hard things that had already been said. Sweet exactly as a mother's voice should be after all this time. In spite of this, each word terrified him more. Sighing for the last time, he decided he was big enough to deal with whatever his mother would say to him. After all, what else could she do? Shout at him? Hurt him? He had survived that already.

"Hi..." he said hesitantly. "It's... it's me, mom.”

Silence followed, as if the person on the other side were considering the options. Tobio could picture her perfectly, picking up the phone from the kitchen counter so she could walk up to the living room without stretching the cord, and sitting down in the mossy green armchair carefully, as if it were going to fall apart.

“...Tobio?”

“Hi mom. Sorry for not calling before.” _What?! I’m so stupid, what kind of apologize is that!_ he thought.

"Oh my God, Tobio! Where are you? Are you alright? Oh my God, come home, where did you go?! You haven’t answered any of my calls, you haven’t left a message, you could at least send me a sign of life! _Tobio!_ ” She exclaimed in a single breath. The brunette closed his eyes and bit his lip. Well, at least that was a mild reaction.

"I'm fine, mom. I can’t say where I am, but I'm fine. I'm working and I have a place to stay.” He avoided delicate points. 

"What do you mean ‘you can’t say where you are’? Don’t you think that's the least a mother deserves? Tobio, it's been seven months since you disappeared, and the last time we've heard of you was through... him.” She said in a controlled manner, as if mentioning that person in the conversation was extremely sacrificial. Tobio agreed, if it was up to him, they could spend the rest of their lives without bringing him up. "Why didn't you contact us sooner? Does he keep you from talking to us? Honestly Tobio...”

The brunette sighed.

"No mom, he doesn't..." _he is no longer here_. “He doesn’t stop me from talking to you.” _I do._ “It’s just I’ve been...” _afraid._ “I've been busy. How ... how are you and dad?” That was it. That was the big question, the big elephant floating in the room that everyone wanted to avoid. And he, like the great idiot he was, had just raised the subject.

His mother hesitated on the other side of the line, and through his subconscious, he could see her wrapping the wire around her fingers, or perhaps a strand of dark hair that she always held in half.

“We’re fine.” She sighed. "You know your father's going to take a while to absorb all this..."

"It's been a while, mom.” He interrupted. He knew that wouldn’t make a difference. If there’s something that would never change again, it was the way his father thought about him after all that had happened. He didn’t expect anything different.

"Don’t talk like that, Tobio. Your father... is a difficult man. He'll forgive you, I'm sure." Tobio got up and fetched himself a glass of the coffee he had left ready in the sink. It was cold, not that it had stopped him from drinking the whole thing like juice. He had been doing that a lot, maybe he should reeconsider his opinion on coffee. Doing this distracted him from thinking about his family, and that was exactly what he needed. He left the phone on the speaker while his mother babbled worried about how his father had been since then, but he knew what he needed to know: nothing had changed.

Suddenly it was too much. He cleared his throat and returned the phone to his ear, leaving the glass inside the sink.

“Mom, I... I need to hang up.” He interrupted her, "I'm still on duty, and my boss needs me, it's urgent." He lied.

“No! Please, Tobio, don’t hang up! I- I had no news from you, I've been worried, and-I...!” He sighed and cut her off again.

“I need to go. I'll call back to you soon, mom.” With a sigh, he hung up the call and kept staring at his phone as if the little mobile had betrayed him, completing the call by itself. Well, there was nothing out of what he expected. His parents were still resentful, worried... well, at least his mother,, or it was just a moment. And his father... well, his father was angry. 

He groaned and tossed the phone towards the sofa, which gracefully bounced to the floor. He didn’t care, letting himself fall on his face. He knew it had been a stupid idea to call his parents. Now his mother knew he had a way to get in touch, so she wouldn’t leave him alone. He couldn’t even imagine how the next ones were going to be.

 _Sometimes people become disappointments, children become disappointments. Then you go into crisis_. Screw you, Red.

As if the demon himself had heard, the loud music began to play on the next wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? What you guys think?
> 
> Anyone know who's Lev's cousin is? Sorry, what a shame, I'm weak for sports anime.  
> I'll try to update next week or at the end of this one! 
> 
> Lot's of kisses, and please comment below! ♥


	3. No one should be called a monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there lovely people! 
> 
> I was thinking, I don't have to wait a week or so to update if the next chapter is translated already, do I?  
> ಠ_ಠ
> 
> If you need to tag anytthing about this on tumblr, I'll be using #bluesakura, with no spaces or you could just message me at tumblr: @dearshouyou
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and the comments. Love you all very much!  
> Enjoy xx

“Are you sure you got everything?” Suga asked as he fixed the bag on his shoulders. The brunette looked around again. The campus definitely seemed like a different place when it was full of students walking in every direction, backpacks and notebooks bumping into people in the corridors as some of them realized they were late, crossing the courtyard as if attending an Olympics. Tobio took a deep breath and nodded. “No need to be nervous, I'm sure it’ll be all right. You've been waiting for this for a long time, haven’t you?” Suga asked with a smile on his lips. Tobio nodded, not brave enough to use voice. “See? You’ll be fine. You still have the map I made you, right? Okay, lunch time is listed at the end. I'd tell you to sit with me, but our schedules are different..." Suga continued talking until the moment he had to stop and recover his breath. He grinned. "Good luck, Kageyama-kun!”

“You can stop with the ‘–kun’. It's been two weeks..." he said. Suga smiled once more and darted toward his own building. Tobio watched as he found some friends on the way, all eager for the new semester.

Following his instructions, Tobio walked slowly down the corridors of the building. Everything seemed old, but somehow preserved. This was the college where his father had attended, and they all knew Tobio would follow his footsteps. Well, maybe things were different nowadays. Shaking his head, Tobio threw out the bad thoughts. Not today, he told himself. Today was a big day and he would not let anything get in the way or get his attention. He walked to find his classroom, hidden behind a statue that looked like a great prophet.

It was a small place compared to other rooms. The room consisted of five floors of chairs and tables available for students' choice, following the shape of the letter ‘C’. In the middle was a table, a blackboard, and a teacher sitting in his chair, making a few notes as he scratched his beard with his fingertips, regardless of the veterans' meeting or the fuss of the freshmen. He wasn’t Japanese, and for a brief second Tobio worried about how that would work.

To the boy, it looked like a movie scene. Well, at least that's how he imagined starting a course he had dreamed of since he was a kid. He felt his body tremble with excitement and climbed the stairs, until he was in one of the lower chairs, from where he could observe the lecture and class closely.

As he pulled his material from the bag, the room filled up and students of the most different types came in. There were a few you could tell without a doubt they were studying arts, as if it were written on they’re forehead, with strange hairstyles and typical t-shirts. There were also some who were clearly there for the sports scolarship, like ‘dude... you don’t need to use your quarterback jacket inside the room, we all know you’re a quarterback by looking at your face.’

When the bell rang, the teacher stood up and everyone went quiet, waiting as he made some presentations. He would be the class teacher that semester, what he normally did and what they would be studying. Tobio felt silly for worrying before, because the man spoke perfectly japanese.

"Well, I'm not gonna force you to do any freshman presentations. I'll just ask the veterans to take care of the _kouhai_ in the best way possible!” He said excitedly.

"Oh yeah, sure," a voice whispered behind Tobio. "Let's take good care of him, after all he’s just a child!”

"Don’t act like a dad to him." Another voice whispered back and they both laughed softly.

Frowning, Tobio glanced behind him. Two boys who looked older were laughing softly, but before he could understand what was happening, the professor spoke again.

"But anyway, I need to call everyone on the presence list to confirm who's here. Alright?”’ After a few tones of agreement, he began to read the list of names. “Akira Yumi. Anohara Taki...”

As each name was called, the student in question answered. Tobio turned sideways, watching as each student answered when they’re name was called, foccusing on remembering everyone. Some just raised their hands, others just shouted in response.

“Honda Ikketsu.” The teacher hesitated as soon as the student answered, as if something on the list had caught him by surprise. “Hinata Shouyou.”

“Here. Again.”

No.

No. Way.

_No no no no no no._

Not _that_ voice.

Tobio spent the last whole week hearing that again and again since that fight, it couldn’t be, he had to be hallucinating. In slow motion, he looked behind his shoulders, looking for someone he definitely didn’t wanna see, but eventually found it anyway. The boy who was sitting upstairs had messy orange hair, most of his tattoos were hidden by his long-sleeved black t-shirt, but his hands and neck were still showing just like the piercings he proudly displayed on his face. Oh no... Tobio groaned inwardly again, his body frozen to look away and pay attention. After a while, he realized he didn’t need to. The list had stopped.

The people around him whispered quietly, some with wide eyes and others were silent. The teacher had a shy smile.

"It's good to see you again, Hinata-kun.”

The redhead rolled his eyes and waved his hand, turning his face to his side. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Finish this already.”

Some students were shocked by the lack of respect he showed toward the senior who read the list, but he just smiled once more, as if he expected nothing different from that.

“Let’s continue, please, keep quiet." He scanned the list, searching where he had stopped. "Oh yes, Jinrou Mei. Kabayashi Yato. Kageyama Tobio.”

The owner of that name was still frozen in the same position, staring at the redhead pulling thread by the thread of the sleeve of his shirt, without giving anyone else his attention, but at that moment his head shot up and he searched around, his eyes meeting him half a second later. A grimace formed on his face, probably the same as Tobio's.

“Kageyama Tobio?” the teacher called again and this time he was able to look away, ignoring the look that the back of his head received.

“Sorry, sensei. I'm here.” The older man nodded and continued the list. Tobio ran a hand through his hair, still feeling that he was being stared at and tried to focus on good things. Red, or Hinata, would _not_ destroy what he spent his life dreaming. He wouldn’t allow it.

"Dude..." a voice whispered seriously in his ear from the back row and he turned slightly to understand. "Are you crazy!? Stare that kid like that?”

“It’s not the first time.” He replied. The boy still listened, and the boy who was talking to him stirred uneasily on the table. ”We’ve met before.” He explained. This seemed to make the pair of friends even more confused.

"If you know who he is, how can you look at him like that?"

Tobio frowned, ready to ask what the hell that meant, but was interrupted by a contented voice.

“And that was the last! Thank you all for being here. Let's start then.” And so, the class began. Tobio tried his hardest to concentrate on what the teacher was saying and wrote down on the blackboard, passing the notes to his own notebook, but it was extremely difficult when he could feel rage coming from behind. He did his best to avoid looking back again, trying to get his attention on somemthing else, but Red kept staring at him until the end of the day, without jotting down a word.

Lunch time came before anyone noticed, and honestly, at least half the room seemed sad. They were starting to go into deeper matters, things that people were eager to see. On the contrary, the other half seemed relieved. Tobio gathered his things into his bag and followed the line of students waiting to pass through the door. As he waited, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked for any notification of anything.

He had just come down the aisle when he was pulled back by the strap of the bag and thrown against the wall on a rude way. He gasped as his back hit the wall and the hand that pulled him now held him by the collar. He looked up, ready to argue, but found himself looking down at brown eyes that he was beginning to hate.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" the smaller one whistled, shaking him by the shirt. Tobio was starting to get really tired, and without much patience (or gentleness) he took Red's hand from his blouse, pushing him back to a distance he considered safe.

“Studying. Something you don’t seem to remember what it is.” He snapped and looked Red in the eyes “What are _you_ doing here? Don’t you have a studio to take care of?”

“Look who's talking, flower boy. Listen,” he took a step forward. “It doesn’t matter if you're in the same class as me, but you can’t tell anyboody that I’m here. Especially about my name.” He finished in a low voice.

"Your name?" Tobio asked looking around confused “Why, you happen to be a celebrity? Sign me an autograph.”

Red grabbed his shirt again faster than Tobio's eyes could follow, leaving him even slightly impressed.

"You will not tell anyone about my name. And you call me Red. All the time. Understood?” He said slowly in a low tone. Tobio took a deep breath and looked back at the boy. From the beginning, he hadn’t felt even the slightly affinity for Red. Or Hinata. Whatever. The boy was rude and a pain in the... The fact that he had stepped on the right callus didn’t help either, but at the moment he seemed genuinely frightened, as if the mere fact of calling him by name in front of his friends was inconceivable.

“Whatever.” he sighed in defeat “I won’t call you 'Hinata' in front of your friends.” he confirmed, extremely confused. If he wanted to be treated as a nickname in front of everyone, even though everyone knew him, that's fine.

"Or 'Shouyou.'” He finished.

"Or 'Shouyou.' But next time, just ask politely, dumbass. Not everyone is a monkey with no manners.” He released his shirt again from the boy's tattooed hands, and with a sigh he adjusted his clothes in place again. "Now, how did you even phrase it? Ah, yes ... Get the hell out of my face.”

Red took a deep breath, expanding his nostrils with anger, but he seemed to be dealing with something precious, so for the first time in his life, he obeyed.

  

* * *

 

 

The first month passed without much interference.

Working at Heaven's was totally confortable and he was already able to do all of his duties without asking Suga any questions. He found himself surprised to realized he actually liked the job. Suga was a nice boy, and at the time of the shift, Lev always did some foolishness, which put Yachi-san and all of them laughing. They were a strange group, but they worked and that was enough.

Tobio hadn’t returned any calls home during this time, but had left some basic messages like ‘I'm fine. I'll call you soon.’ on his mother's phone in a few days. This prevented her from calling the same number again and bombarding him with questions and demanding answers. His life in the small apartment was great, except for a few nights.

Some nights Red stayed in the studio until dawn, and the music never diminished. Despite totally different tastes, Tobio could say with 100% sure that he already knew all the lyrics to 50 Cent’s last album. On the nights Red was in the mood for Drake, Tobio barely complained. Sometimes the music stopped suddenly around 2:00 am, sometimes it went on until it was time to start work. Frankly, where did this guy lived?

During class time, Tobio and Red didn’t even looked at each other, trying to force at least a truce, where they could both study without disturbing. Tobio realized within a few days that Red was, in fact, attentive to class. He asked questions, made notes and even participated in certain activities, but always alone. It wasn’t like he was the most appreciated student in the room. He always sat alone and never spoke to anyone. The only person who didn’t seem to care was himself and the teacher, whose he seemed to know from somewhere.

Tobio was presented as the ‘student of the class’ early, after a lecture on observation and a beautiful painting of a castle and a knight under a hill. Just like he was used, people moved away from him because the clear difference of talent and skill he possessed, as if being different was wrong. But it’s okay, it always happened and would never really stop.

The whispers didn’t stop either. Tobio had to admit, it was annoying. In theory, anyone who took five minutes of their time to make Red's life more miserable already earned a point of appreciation, but after a few days it became boring. No one likes to play a game without knowing the rules. People whispered, walked away, but no one ever dared to say anything in front of him. Not that he didn’t seem to know what was happening behind his back. By the end of the month, Tobio was already begging that whatever had happened to make Red the target of so many looks and comments disappeared, it was distracting!

But, just like his dad always told him, life always finds a way to shake things up when you’re starting to get relaxed.

When the bell rang that afternoon, Tobio gathered his stuff and set off to lunch, already finding the money for the usual yogurt he bought every day. Couldn’t help it, it was delicious. He walked to the machine whistling some crappy hip-hop song he probably heard before frowning with himself.

As soon as he got the small box in his hands, the noise reached his ears.

A great confusion had formed in the middle of the courtyard and it was evolving enough to envelop all the students there. Heads turned and bodies crowded, trying to understand what was happening. Normally this wouln’t make any difference to him, after all, he didn’t care if people wanted to fight, it wasn’t his prroblem, but something caught his attention.

"Get away from her, you murderer!" A voice shouted. Oh wow. Tobio tried to understand what was happening by standing in tip toes. It was a strong word to call someone

"I'm not a murderer!" Someone replied. This voice Tobio knew. This time not only did his head turn as his whole body, but before he noticed his feet had already thrown him in a rush to the eye of the storm. He struggled to slip through the crowd and stopped when he found a couple looking down at Red, who was lying on the floor with his lip bleeding and his eyebrow cut, blood streaming down his face. The boy's hand trembled with fear and anger still stained red, and the girl he was protecting was hiding her face.

“Yes you are! You know you are! Misaki is afraid of you, she will never love you, no matter what you try to do with her! No one will ever love you!”

Tobio could hate Red with all his might, but messing with a girl for some reason like that didn’t seem like something he would do. The redhead spat the blood on the floor and raised his head.

"For the last time, you asshole," he growled, still sitting, "I didn’t do any shit, I just asked..."

At that moment the other boy lifted his foot, as if willing to kick the boy's face. Before Tobio realized what he was doing, he pushed the boy lightly on his shoulder, forcing him to lose his balance and need both legs to stand. With a single step he set himself between them.

"I don’t know what this jerk did, but you already passed the message. Get out of here," Tobio said seriously. Behind him, he could see Red's grimace, as if someone coming in front of him to defend him was the biggest offense he could imagine, especially if that someone was Tobio.

"Are you going to protect him?" The boy screamed at Tobio's face, pointing his finger down. "You’ll protect this monster? You know what he did!” He raised his voice.

In fact, Tobio didn’t know. He didn’t even care at that point. But _no one_ would call _anyone_ 'monster' in front of him. He had enough of that for a lifetime, enough for the word to bring back memories and a tightness in the heart that was worthy of tears. He pulled the boy up by the collar of his shirt and looked him in the eyes.

“Yes, I will. Any problems with that?”

Like a bomb, the entire courtyard fell silent. After waiting to see if anyone would say anything, he released the boy and walked away, not caring if Red had left or not. Some people took a few steps from his way, stteping away as if he had the plague. He didn’t care. As soon as he turned the hall, still with the yogurt box in his hand, he sighed and took the first sip. In the hallway, it was much easier to hear the sound of the footsteps behind him.

“Hurt yourself?” He asked without stopping or looking back, already waiting for some rude answer.

"No, just invited the blood from inside my body to take a walk outside.” He answered in a low tone, and Tobio didn’t replied. "It's nothing, it's just a scratch."

"A scratch that's leaving a trail of blood on the hallway."

“Fuck it.”

Tobio didn’t stop to help him, and Red didn’t ask for it. He noticed that the boy was following him while holding the cut in his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, now soaked, pressing it to stop bleeding. He kept licking his lips to clean the Small cut there too. For some reason the sight was disconcerting.

As soon as he found an empty table on the other side of the dining hall, Tobio sat down, and to his surprise, Red did too.

"I didn’t invite you to sit with me." The brunette said looking up with a grimace.

“Yeah? Guess what, I don’t care.” he replied pulling the hair back to prevent it from touching the blood with the other hand. “If I’m alone they’ll call me back to the director's room. Sitting here, I can at least finish eating and make the bleeding stop.” He glanced sideways at Tobio. "I think I can handle your ugly face for a few minutes."

Tobio controlled every nerve in his body to hold himself from turning one of Red’s eyes black, to match with the other injuries. Little by little he began to eat, so his mouth was busy enough that he wouldn’t say a thing. People passing by looked at them in silence. Tobio didn’t know if it was because Red was all bloody or because he was sitting with him to begin with. The redhead remained silent, taking his hand for a few seconds to test it out. The sleeve of the black shirt seemed even darker.

"Ugh... I hate this, but..." the boy said quietly to himself, and then completed out loud. "Thanks.” He said like it was actually painfull.

"I should’ve let him hit you. After all, you messed with his girl.” Tobio replied with his mouth full.

“I didn’t mess with the guy's chick! Fuck them both.” he answered exalted, causing the lip to bleed again “Stupid college, I just asked her if it was time for the next class already! Dumb creature...”

Tobio looked at him for the first time, still chewing. The boy was pale as if he had seen a ghost, emphasizing every detail tattooed on his skin. Wicks of his originally orange hair were becoming redder as they were soiled with blood, and in his desperation to make the bleeding stop, he looked like he had been punched all over his face, the freckles fading. He looked like a disgrace.

"Why did you protect me then?" He asked quietly, looking at the marble table. "If you wanted to let him hit me, you could’ve. Or actually, you could’ve waited. I was gonna get up and kick his ass. I wouldn’t mind the detention.” He said incredibly seriously.

Tobio continued to chew and then asked himself the same question. Why had he defended Red? The guy was an douche. The answer came easier than he'd imagined.

“He called you a monster.” Tobio answered before he knew it. "No one should be called a monster, even if you're an idiot.” He took another bite of the apple he had taken from his bag and looked away. From side eye, he realized Red had looked, and for the first time since meeting the boy, he didn’t looked like a bad person.

“What makes you think I’m not?" He answered in a low voice.

Tobio smiled without being amused.

"Sometimes people become disappointments. Then you go into crisis.” For a moment they were both silent, until Tobio returned to look at the boy, holding his stare. “In crisis. Not a monster.”

For a brief moment, Tobio didn’t know if he was still talking to Red or to himself, but he would think about that later. The redhead gave a slight smile and looked straight ahead again. Tobio finished eating his apple in silence, and Red didn’t bothered him.

"You should visit the infirmary," he said when it was over, getting up. "It’ll be hard to explain to your Ink Oz friends what happened here if they don’t know you’re on a university.”

He looked confused. "They know I’m on a university, Bakageyama. What made you think that they didn’t?”

It was Tobio's turn to reply confused.

"You don’t want them to know anything about you here.”

"What the hell are you... ah.” He stopped, understanding the question "No, you... argh. Damn it. They know I'm here. They can’t know what my name is.”

Tobio didn’t changed his expression.. What the hell was that answer? Red rolled his eyes and sat facing the dark haired boy, who was now standing.

“I don’t like you. And I know you don’t like me either. But for some bizarre reason you defended me, then I owe you that.” He paused. "The Ink Oz boys don’t know my real name. No one does. And I intend to keep it this way.”

Tobio hesitated, thinking of several possibilities one might have to hide a real name. The first he could think of was that this someone was known or that he’d done something wrong. _Get away from her, you murderer!_ The boy's voice echoed in his head and Tobio frowned. Red didn’t looked extreme enough to kill anyone, no matter what happened, but... if it wasn’t that... then... what was it? The boy held his gaze, just like last month when Tobio promised to keep quiet.

"So what that boy said is true.” He ventured. Red lowered his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm not a murderer." He answered in a low voice. For some reason, Tobio believed. Then he shrugged.

“Whatever. Murderer or not, you're still an idiot.” he said. The redhead looked up in surprise at him but laughed crookedly.

"Bakageyama.”

Again Tobio shrugged, then turned his back and walked away back into the hallway. He left Red behind in silence and this time the boy didn’t follow. On the way, he passed the cafeteria again to return the tray where he had picked up the yogurt, winning a smile from the lady behind the counter.

When he got to the classroom, everyone was quiet and staring at him. He shivered and went to his desk, avoiding the eyes that followed him. When he sat down, he noticed his bag was nowhere to be found. He looked around, not knowing where he had left, and then began to make the reverse course on his head, looking for some breach wherever it could be. He was surprised when a thud was heard from his desk and he opened his eyes to find the loose pouch on the table.

"You forgot in the cafeteria." Red said as he continued up the stairs. For a brief moment, Tobio was surprised before looking over his shoulder.

“Thanks... Hinata.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you in a few days?  
> Love you all ♥


	4. It makes sense that you’ve bonded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update just while I finish translating the new one because I'm weak and lazy  
> Have fun!

 

“You're excused!” The teacher announced and all the students stood up.

“Same place?” Red asked without looking up as he tucked his single pen behind his ear. Tobio knew he would find him either he wanted or not, so he shrugged, finishing the notes on a book he had taken from the library. "If you take more than ten minutes I'll eat the second meat-bun you reserved yesterday." He threatened earnestly, as if promising a war.

"Try it and it’ll be the last time you ever ate something." Tobio snapped.

"You wouldn’t stand a chance against me." Red chuckled confidently as he got up and left the room. He has probably right. Tobio rolled his eyes and foccused on being fast, because without that meat-bun he wouldn’t have lunch and he was pretty much sure Red _would_ eat it.

Slowly the room was emptied and as the silence grew the words formed faster in his head. Working peacefully was always easy for him, so he reached the end of the page before he realized.

"Kageyama-kun, aren’t you going out for lunch?" A voice sounded suddenly. The boy jumped up and let the pen fall, realizing that the teacher was still in the room leaning on his black cane.

“Ah... yes. I'm almost finishing.” He answered, retrieving the pen he had almost thrown away while and the old man smiled and nodded.

“You better hurry. I don’t think Hinata-kun was kidding about eating your food.”

The name reminded him of something, and Tobio lowered his pen slowly staring at the professor.

"You've met before, haven’t you? You and Red? I mean, Hinata,” He fixed. "you and Hinata."

The professor smiled, leaning against the blackboard and probably messing up his blouse with chalk dust.

"It's the second time Hinata-kun has enrolled in the same course. Last time we had some... problems. You must know that he isn’t seen with good eyes by the other students.” The professor shrugged. "Not that it interferes with anything. He's a tough young man, yes, and he had a very hard start to life, but he's still my student.”

Tobio hesitated, running his fingers along the edge of the paper.

"It’s true, then? He... he’s a criminal?” He asked delicately. Saying something like ‘ _did he killed somebody?_ ’ was too blantly, and ‘ _killed’_ was a strong word. It had been a week since that fight in the courtyard, and at least once a night, Tobio let his brain think about what it meant. The professor smiled again, but this time he seemed more thoughtful than ever.

"That's something you should ask him."

“I did.” Tobio replied promptly. "He said he was no murderer." _Oops, there goes the delicacy_. Tobio slapped himself mentally.

"Then you should believe your friend." _‘Friend’_ is also a very strong word, Tobio thought, and this time he didn’t answered promptly, giving the teacher room to continue. "Like I said, he went through some complicated situations, but I really like Hinata-kun here as my student. He's an exceptional kid. When he does what he likes, he has the potential to go far, to fly. Do you see that too? You have the same potential, it makes sense that you’ve bonded.”

"We didn’t..." Tobio began, but the professor's laughter prevented him from continuing.

“Bonded? Of course you did, you just didn’t realize it. Maybe not for you, but for him. Believe me, Kageyama-kun. Hinata-kun wouldn’t open to people as easily as he opens to you.”

Tobio thought about that and definitely Red didn’t open to him. The boy was an idiot. He loooked for him in class and during lunch time, they had lunch together every day (even if they spent more time offending each other than eating) and they usually sat close during every period. It was like a pair of old ladies, quarreling with each other but for some unknown reason they’re still together. Even with all of that happening, the loud music still drove Tobio insane every night. He always found a way of offending the brunette at the first opportunity he had and when Tobio was forced to enter Ink Oz and ask them to lower the song a little bit, he always got a scream coming from the second floor, usually something like ‘WELCOME TO INK OZ, UNLESS YOU'RE KAGEYAMA, THEN SCREW YOU’.

"I... I don’t think he opened up for me, sir. To be honest, I don’t even know if I want that.” Tobio said in a low voice, copying the material again.

The professor read the blackboard again, searching for a mistake in his own thinking.

“Believe me. Maybe you don’t understand it yet, but for someone who spends all day watching students, I can see the change.” He played with a chalk, his face serious, before looking at Tobio again. "Give him a chance. He needs it.”

Tobio stared at the teacher for a few minutes, then he calmly put his things inside the suitcase and waved him goodbye without giving any more answers as he left for the cafeteria with a disturbed face.

Red was an extremely easy to find, especially among students. Look for someone isolated, face of a few friends and fluorescent orange hair who looked like he had gotten out of a fight or out of bed, and you’ll find him. As soon as he reached the table practically empty, he sat down and picked up the meat-bun (which luckily hadn’t been eaten) and set to lunch.

Since Tobio had bought Red's fight, people had moved away from him. Well, more than usual. When Red arrived, whoever was with him was gone. It didn’t changed much since he wasn’t the most popular person in the class.

The red-haired boy frowned.

“The food isn’t like people, it won’t run away because of your face.”

“Shut up, Hinata.” he replied.

"So..." Red began hesitantly thrusting three fries with sauce from his plate into his mouth, still looking at the sandwich that was definitely bigger than his stomach. He tried to ask something, but pieces of food flew out of his mouth and Tobio didn’t understand a word.

“Jesus Chirst, you’re disgusting.” He waited for the boy to swallow and repeat the same question.

"What brought you here?"

Tobio stared at him for at least ten seconds before he realized it was a genuine question and that punk expected an answer. He choked slightly.

"My father was a painter. He raised me to be a painter. Here I am.”

“Hm. That’s sorta stupid” He smiled. "I'm here for drawing. You know, it's always good that a tattoo artist has more experience than everyone else. People pay a fortune for these things..." he said cynically. "It's different from these boring things, like... theater. Or... paitings.”

Tobio threw a piece of meat into the boy's face, which curled into a piece of his hair in the middle of his eyes before the boy took a deep breath.

"Do you want this back or can I keep it?" He asked before taking the piece of meat and eating it.

"We're not friends, what are you doing?" Tobio asked with a grimace as he stared at the boy.

“Of course we’re not, what the fuck?” Red exclaimed. Tobio blinked in confusion “I hate you, _but_ when I walk with you people whisper away from the two of us, and I've had a headache for a while. Believe it or not, I know it sounds hypocritical coming from me, but I enjoy silence sometimes.”

This caused Tobio to close his mouth. It was true that during that week the rumors and murmurs he usually heard were non existent, probably because now he was part of the rumors as well. It was strange that Red would bother about it, but Tobio wasn’t judging, so he rolled his eyes and went back to eating.

That afternoon was the first time Red and Tobio went back together from class. It wasn’t anyone’s choice, but technically both of them would go to the same place, and the work shift was the same. To be honest, Tobio only noticed that they were walking together after at least five turns. Knowing Red, if the boy realized he would probably going to stop, lean against a pole, take a cigarette from his pocket and stand there looking like a delinquent, ready to steal the first innocent who crossed his way, just to wait Tobio arrive first.

Surprisingly, he didn’t said a word the whole way. Across the street the two establishments rose in all their glory. If you can say Ink Oz have some. They were exactly the opposite of each other.

Heaven's was made of a yellowish walls, filled with sunflowers and daisies and a window decorated with a beautiful red calligraphy, showing the phone number and new promotions. On the side of the entrance door was a panel of news that contained the shop logo and also the opening hours. In contrast, looking at Ink Oz looked like you were about to hear a horror movie scream. The front was black and the neon lights glowed both inside and out. The phone had been written with spray paint on the wall and the awning was old and slightly torn.

“Er... have a nice day at work, I guess?” Tobio said in a low voice.

“Yeah...” Red sighed confused “Same.”

Both of them began to walk toward their places without any more words. As soon as Tobio walked by the door and listened to the bell he was received by Lev, who worked in the morning. He was making the second round of coffee when the boy announced that he needed to leave because he had something important to do in college. Tobio already knew how to deal with everything in the flower shop, so he sent the boy away and continued the process of making another bottle of coffee. He hated the thing, at least pure, but he knew Suga liked it and soon the older one would be coming.

There, in peace, he let himself think of the words the teacher had told him that morning. And also about Suga. And Yachi.

If so many good people liked him, it’s not possible that he was just a rotten being inside. Was he really willing to be friends with Red? Or rather, was Red willing to be friends with him? It didn’t make much sense, they hated each other. Basically, they could stand one another so they wouldn’t have to face every day the buzz of conversations and rumors around them, so each one protected the other's back. Was that what friends did? Tobio couldn’t say.

Since childhood, his range of friendships has always been limited, and definitely an idiot. Like Red wouldn’t earn an easy place. Okay, Tobio was just as stubborn as him, which probably potentiated the redhead's actions. He wondered if the position to win a friendship was so cheap, since apparently Red had won one without Tobio even noticing.

 


	5. Instinct is something you polish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeey! Thanks so much for all the comment's I'm receiving, I really enjoyed writing this story, so I hope you enjoy reading it! <3  
> Here goes another one!
> 
> You're all lovely people.

“... so I told him I think it's cool that he inherited the bar, I mean, he always wanted to, y’know? Since I met Daichi he talks about his father's bar and how much he would like to work there and... I don’t know, I think he's just nervous. A business to take care of yourself!” Suga felt a shiver and blinked a few times before rearranging the seed bags at the bottom of the counter. "He must be a little scared, don’t you think?"

"Well," Tobio replied, "I’m a mere employee basically ignored by his parents, so I don’t know exaclty how he must be feeling right now, but pass on my congratulations. If he’s like you talk, I think he'll be able to keep it going.” He finished without glancing at Suga, who was watching as he finished an arrangement of flowers near the entrance. Lately he had been feeling so comfortable with certain decisions that calling the elder for help wasn’t necessary.

"I'm sure Sawamura-kun will do his best!" Yachi-san announced carrying a vase almost bigger than her full of daisies. She put it on the edge of the bench and began to tie a bow to decorate it and be able to leave it near the window “He’s a good boy, right? It's okay that having a business is always different than we think it would be, but it all works out in the end.”

Suga smiled and nodded. Everytime he talked about his best friend he was like this.

The brunette looked back at his flower arrangement and then scratched his chin. _A little more purple here, more leaves and maybe cream up there would make the red and yellow of the roses more livid_... He knew that he looked at his flowers just like he did in paintings, coordinating the colors and the balance of the hue, but if this worked there was no reason to stop. Frowning, Tobio picked up the vase and walked towards the balcony, passing by a Suga who was already laughing, acknowledging his friend's dissatisfaction.

“Yachi-san!” Tobio called  “Do we have any clock flower somewhere? I wanted something like that, more specifically something in that shade of purple. I don’t know if we asked for some seeds last time, and if we did, I don’t know where they are. Maybe orchids?”

“Lavender can work too!” Suga sugested, and then began to look inside the little bags if there was anything that could help him. Tobio was staring intently into the arrangement with scissors in his hand, cutting loose unformed tips that pointed to the sides when a loud _smack_ sounded into the flower shop, scaring both employees and the few customers. The scissors that Tobio held loosely fell to the ground and Yachi-san nearly knocked over the vase she held.

The figure who had opened the door with a fist walked heavily through the flower shop in complete silence. He came towards the counter without even lifting his eyes and shoved some crumpled money on the counter, making the glass tremble under his fist. Red took a deep breath.

“How do I say ‘fuck you’ in flower?” He hissed. His eyes still hadn’t left the ground, and for the first time the customers seemed uncomfortable enough to be in the same environment as the boy. His hands were shaking and they could probably feel the anger emanating from his body.

"For God's sake, Red!" Yachi scolded putting the vase on a shelf and resting her hand above her heart, which certainly pulsed wildly “You almost scared me to death! And watch out for the countertop, please, it's glass!”

Red didn’t replied and stayed in the same place. Suga got up from where he was and walked quietly towards him.

“Ok, I don’t know what happened, but...” he started “ Just calm d-...“

"I don’t want to be calm.” He replied still in the same tone, tapping his hand on the counter again and causing all the mini cacti to shake.  “I want to be pissed.”

“Countertop, Red!” Yachi squeaked. She glanced over her shoulder at the family standing there and decided that perhaps it would be better to explain what was happening and that this was definitely a one time thing. After all, this _was_ the first time Red had set foot in his friend's flower shop.

Tobio sighed and took Suga's place in front of the boy. Without waiting twice he pulled the money notes that were still torn into the pocket of his apron. "Suga-san, could you make some coffee?" The ashen-haired nodded, and with one last glance left them there, heading to the kitchen. Tobio released Red's hands from the countertop with a slap, which surprisingly didn’t result in gaining another in returno n his face just for the daring. The redhead let Tobio move his hand and guide him by the arm to a chair behind the counter, where he sat down sloppily “What's your problem?! What would you think of someone coming into Ink Oz punching all the furniture? While we have clients? You’re a dumbass.”

The boy took a deep breath and delayed to answer, still looking at the ground, which gave Tobio a few moments of shock. Yachi, who had already finished explaining to customers what was happening, joined them and knelt in front of Red, stretching a hand to rest on the tip of his knee, well above the tear of his pants.

“What happened?” She asked in a delicate tone. Tobio waited with his arms crossed, waiting for the moment he would explode, and he would probably say things that Yachi wouldn’t want to hear, but it didn’t happened. The boy put his head in his hands and took a deep breath before answering, surprising both Tobio and Suga, who returned to the front of the shop with a cup of coffee.

"She kicked me out, that stinky old woman.” He growled “She said I was taking too long to pay the months back and that I was only thinking about my own life. She said that if I didn’t pay it until today, the contract was over, and guess who exploded and told her to shove her own fist into..." He raised his head, still avoiding everyone's eyes.

Tobio frowned. He was talking about his mother? It didn’t seemed. He wouldn’t have to pay anything to his mother, would he? Yachi seemed to understand a little more and the hand on his knee gave a gentle squeeze, as if to say ‘yes, I understand.’

"It's all right, Red, I can help you if you need to. But you shouldn’t have called Mrs. Plithiver old and stinky. It was thanks to her that you got a room in the pension that was full. Okay, I get it that she might be a complicated woman, but ...

“She's a cow.”

“Red.”

The boy sighed, closing his eyes and letting his friend keep talking.

“I'll help, no problem, you can pay me when you have it, okay?” She smiled “I know that the tattooist business is difficult, since it is never the same, but you’ll have it soon. That happened because you’re paying college, right?” She added in a low tone. Suga looked surprised to hear the second part, as if at any moment it had crossed his mind that Red was studying something. Tobio was still thinking about the pension part. Why on earth did a idiot full of himself, lived in a pension instead of his own house? Where was that guy's family?

Red nodded.

"Since the semester started, the money I had it’s going to the institution, of course. It’s not a lot, but it's all my savings. I won’t..." He hesitated, glancing quickly at Tobio. The brunette would have lost his glimpse if he hadn’t been staring into the boy's brown eyes. "I won’t let it happen again.” He decided.

Tobio decided to stay in silence. Apparently, no one there besides both of them knew that they studied together and were treating everything as a small occasion. Tobio could dislike the guy, but he wasn’t going to destroy something he wanted to keep a secret.

Yachi gave him a wistful smile and Suga stretched the mug, not even impressed when Red drowned like a shot.

"There’s no way you can get your room back?" Suga asked. "Maybe explain that this is just for a while. I'm sure you can get a scholarship by the end of the year.” The boy shook his head.

"I'm not actually surprised. I've already taken my things to Kenma, I'll stay there for a while until I find another place. But I don’t want to stay for a long period, he lives with Kuroo already.” Once again Yachi nodded, as if she understood the situation.

Tobio was confused by the whole situation, but he was beginning to feel slightly inclined to anger. Regardless of whether the pensioner knew that he had an emergency place to stay or not, it was still rude to simply put someone out without any warning. Just like the first time he defended Red, he identified with the situation. Having to live in a pension was awful. Tobio put his hands in his pocket and felt the money tickling him, which gave him an idea.

Leaving the melancholy trio seated he went to the far side of the counter and began searching the catalog where he could find what he wanted. Yachi and Suga didn’t notice his movement, but Red looked up curiously at him, perhaps wondering if Tobio had left because he didn’t give a damn. Maybe some time ago it was true, but after all these weeks with both of them walking together, studying together and going back to work together, there was no denying that he could be called at least a friend. He could be lousy when he wanted to, but that wasn’t always true. For several days Tobio found himself surprised while laughing at some of the stupid jokes they shared and also spending precious hours deciding if their professor wore a wig or not.

After going through several pages, Tobio found what he wanted. He followed the instructions, opening the drawer and searching the correct file until he found it. He straightened up and throwed the small bag to Red, who caught it in the air with his good reflexes.

Before Red could ask, Yachi looked at the bag surprised and then at Tobio.

"That's cruel, Kageyama-kun! I didn't even know we still had some..." she scolded not very sorry and Tobio shrugged.

"That's what he asked for, wasn’t it? Our duty is to satisfy the customer’s wishes.”

Red shook the bag in front of his eyes.

"Er... should I ask what this is? I suppose they are not magic beans that create a giant beanstalk, because I could sell that.” He winced.

"In the original story he _buys_ the beans, you imbecile. What he sells is his family's cow.” Tobio frowned at him and Red raised his eyebrows.

"Maybe I can sell Mrs. Plithiver."

Yachi glared at his friend who struggled to keep serious. Again he looked at the bag and stared at the huge seeds that looked like tree pieces, silently waiting for one of threee who knew what it was to explain. Suga and Yachi looked reluctant at Tobio's choice, so he sighed.

“Those are seeds of _Amorphophallus titanum_. If you don’t know what they are, which I believe it’s the case, they are giant exotic plants. Tell her to plant in a big place because they _will_ grow. After a few years, a huge flower sprouts and... well, let's just say that this flower has a distinctive odor. She is known as Corpse Flower.”

“You've gotta be kidding me.”

“Red.”

Yachi rubbed her temples like she was suddenly having a headache. The redhead laughed as he put the bag in the back pocket of his dark jeans with a sly grin and stood up, still breathing heavily. Everyone there knew he wouldn’t say thanks, so no one actually expected. Red just put the chair back in place and went towards the door before stopping and turning on his heels. He looked at Tobio and pointed a finger at him.

"It’s a void question, but do you have the notes from monday? That one I missed the last period? I know you hate the Mesopotamia era, and so do I, so I won’t judge you if burned your notes away or smoke them, been there, done that.” He said in a low voice. This attracted Yachi’s and Suga’s attention, who turned to face Red and Tobio. He avoided answering the curious glances and continued looking forward. If Red had no problem with that, there was no reason to hide anything.

"I have, but it's not complete. I lost pacience and will to live after he started to show slides and videos. Need for today? Or can I give to you tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is good. In fact, tomorrow is History of Art, right? Damn it. Can you take some blank pages from your sketchbook? They're great and I have the feeling I’ll want to draw bullshit the whole morning." he said honestly. "And to be honest, I need to get some clean designs. Thursday’s chick is a perfectionist.”

"Is that girl who wants the skull and roses?" Tobio asked, picking up the scissors from the floor and finishing arranging the vase Red had messed up. The boy leaned his shoulders against the doorway and smiled as he watched the boy frame exactly the way he wanted. Red realized at that moment that Tobio knew what he was doing when it came to roses, or at least he learned over time, because what he was working on was getting extremely cool.

“That’s the one”

"Has she already sent you the basics of what she wants? It would be a pity if you had to do everything from the start, I would never trust you in that.” The dark man murmured. "Your perception of the delicate to the brute it’s not very good.”

“Fuck you, Kageyama.” The redhead answered earnestly, and Tobio laughed raising his eyes. The brown eyes that stared back at him were as bright as someone who had gotten rid of a weight, perhaps with the seeds or perhaps for talking to the only friend he had. For some reason, Tobio felt his heart skip to see the boy better. “And no, she hasn’t sent anything yet. So are you going to take the papers or not?”

"No problem." the brunette replied with a shrug.

“You're saving my life. Either that or I'll stick a pen in my eyes as soon as the last period begins.” He felt a chill remembering alll the thing they were studying in that class, which Tobio had to agree, was extremely annoying.

“Love me less.”

"Oh, what is this, it’s this what you guys call feelings?" Red joked seriously before laughing and finally closing the door and heading toward his own shop, waving a goodbye over his shoulder, definitely lighter than when he'd walked through the door. Tobio laughed to himself and continued to settle his arrangement in silence, leaving the other two shop staff in complete silence with their mouths open, as if they had witnessed a miraculous moment.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Footsteps caught up with him right after he left the shop, and Red turned to see if anyone was following him, nearly bumping into the blonde.

“Yacchan?” He asked curiously. "What? Did I forget something?”

The girl shook her head and looked inside the shop window. Red followed her gaze and found Sugawara and Kageyama talking, both leaning on the counter while the older boy passed certain purple flowers to the younger man and pointed where he thought they would be good.

"I didn’t think you and Kageyama-kun would get along so well. Why didn’t you told me you were studying together?” She asked in a low voice, still not looking away from the staff. Red shrugged.

“You didn’t ask. And no... ah, I don’t know. He's stubborn and stupid," Red said, frowning," but he's the only idiot who can stand me. It's not like I have a big choice.”

The blonde smiled and this time looked at him.

“I think you do.” she replied “Kageyama-kun was the last person I imagined that you would bond, and if this happened, definitely there was effort of both parts.” She hesitated, "I'm happy. I'm glad that you've found someone to be your friend there and here too, Red. Kageyama-kun is a good guy.”

Red hesitated. He hoped for many things Yachi could tell him, but that she was glad he'd found a friend was not one of them. After all, it wasn’t like people knew who he really was. Red nodded before he knew it.

“He is good.” He admitted in a low voice, looking at Kageyama through the window and Yachi nodded.

“A lot. With flowers and drawings, actually. Maybe you already know about the second, since you’re studying together. He'll probably go far if he wants to. He’s a genius. So are you, in a way. I haven’t met anyone as good as you on inking.” She said, wrapping a lock of hair through her fingers. “Don’t let it end this time. You have just as much potential as he does. Talent is something you make bloom, instinct is something you polish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would advice you guys to search some flowers if you want a visual, because Lord knows I've spent a month looking at then and getting all the names I've wanted!  
> All of them (so far) are real and exist on the real world, maybe not that easy to find or see, but they're real!  
> See you in a few days x


	6. You promised me and I trusted you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of those curious about their pasts, HERE IT IS!
> 
> I really liked this chapter, I hope you do too!
> 
> xx

“You are a pig.” Tobio announced disgusted.

"You're a douche and I still don’t talk about it all the time. C’mon!” Hinata replied frowning and shove more popcorn into his mouth, making him look like a squirrel “I'm hungry.”

“Yeah? For how long?” Tobio replied but was silenced with an elbow in the ribs.

Things were going... well. Different than he'd expected, but well. His first two months of studying had flown by, and he had barely noticed that he was halfway through the semester. Some classes made him sleep and want to cry in despair, but in others he felt like he was born to do that, to expose his feelings on the paper and let everyone see what he was thinking through colors. The teachers agreed and soon he had become the great prodigy of the group.

Hinata, also, wasn’t in bad shape. The clientele was gradually increasing as he got more details and more expressions in every job he did. The fact that he moved to his friend's house might’ve helped, cause now he had company and opinions he could trust, even if it was an unexpected turn in his life. Although, this year things were really taking unexpected turns. Who knew he was going to be friends with the little prince who moved to Tokyo a few months ago?!

They still had fights, of course, and both were extremely competitive, resulting that in all the works and presentations they both wanted to be the best, at least in their own area, but they were friends, absolutely. Hinata still annoyed him, but he struggled (without letting anyone notice) to keep the dark haired one close, and Tobio was getting used to referring to him by name, at least during class time. ‘Red’ was a nickname that did justice to the boy, but also did ‘Hinata’.

On that day, they were sitting side by side evaluating a banner they would need to deliver later that week. Hinata was scribbling on a sheet of paper, deciding the general design and Tobio was busy reading the texts, since clearly the other couldn’t stand for a long time if he was doing something boring. And Tobio had to agree: it _was_ boring.

He was so trying his best to foccus on the text that he only noticed that his phone was ringing after it had stopped shaking in his pocket. He frowned and pulled the device up. Hinata raised an eyebrow but said nothing, too busy tucking the whole bag of popcorn into his mouth, temporarily dropping the pencil on the table.

**Mother. 12 missed calls.**

What. The. Hell.

Okay, maybe Tobio had avoided returning his mother's calls, preferring to keep her informed through text messages, but twelve calls were a little out of the normal to be ignored. He began to prepare himself to respond, but glanced sideways at the boy who chewed on his side. Hinata would probably be a jerk during the call, trying to embarass him, and he definitely didn’t need any more headaches. With a sigh, Tobio put the phone back in his pocket.

“Who was it?” Hinata asked with his mouth full.

“It's none of your business.” Tobio replied.

“Ouch.” He answered falsely, putting his hand over his heart as if impaled by answer.

“Don’t sound like you have one, we both know it's hollow in there." Tobio said pointing to the boy's chest, who laughed and showed him the middle finger.

For the rest of the day, Tobio couldn’t concentrate on anything else. His head was traveling miles away to his parents' house in Miyagi, wondering if anything bad happened. Should he call? Or should he follow the original plan about calling later?

With his head on the clouds, the day went faster than he could imagine. Soon, the bell ringed and they were excused, and he felt Hinata kicking the edge of his chair until it bothered him enough to stand. Tobio didn’t said a word on the way back, and Hinata didn’t even tried.

They finally got to the avenue and Tobio stopped, staring up at the two opposing shops that stood up against each other, sharing the same wall. It was a curious sight.

What wasn’t curious was the fact that there was a woman walking from side to side in front of the flower shop. A woman that Tobio would’ve recognize anywhere in the world.

"Oh no..." he sighed. Hinata looked up, surprised at the boy's first comment the whole way, and then followed his eyes until he found the reason for the shock. The woman who walked in front of the store looked like an ordinary person, perhaps a customer considering entering or not, but she was familiar. Her dark hair was arranged in a half-half way, and it was extremely straight. Her heels made an annoying, rhythmic sound as she went from one side to the other. "No, no... I- I didn’t... I don’t ... I can’t do that.” Tobio whispered and ran his hand through his hair, before turning his back and starting to go in the opposite direction without a brief explanation. Hinata looked away from the woman and frowned.

"Oi, Kageyama! Where are you going!?” He called aloud.

He didn’t noticed when the woman turned and stared at the sound of her own name.

“Tobio?” Another voice called, and Tobio slowed his steps. _Damn you, Hinata! No, please, not this, not now that I’m starting to get better, please don’t..._ he thought as he felt his body freezing, and gradually he turned to face his mother completely.

She crossed the avenue in quick steps and stood in front of her son, not even recognizing the boy beside her. She raised her hands as if to hold his face, but stopped in the middle when thhe boy flinched. Hinata frowned, staring for a few seconds before interrupting and getting that woman away from his friend with kicks.

“Hi, mom.” He said in a low voice, and Hinata froze at his side. He didn’t know about his past, of course, nobody knew, but it was obvious the way that Tobio wasn’t at all happy about that reunion. “What...” he cleared his throat “what are you doing here... here in Tokyo?”

His mother lowered her hands and didn’t try to touch him again, which Tobio was grateful.

"You didn’t call. You didn’t answer my calls and messages, and when you did, it seemed vague. I was worried Tobio, forgive me, but... I had to come. I asked Yui, from the police station to trace the number you called last month. You remember her, don’t you?” His mother put a lock behind her ear. "Forgive me, but I... I needed to see if you were all right... it's been so long..."

Tobio wanted to scream. _Worried_. Worried like she was that night when averything blew up? No, he wouldn’t do it, not in front of Hinata, who had nothing to do with the story. He closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to keep his memory from triggering anything.

“I wondered if... if he wasn’t... I don’t know, forbidding you from talking to us...” she had a shiver again. She began twisting her blouse and bit her lip, waiting for an answer and ready to catch the first sign of lie on her son's lips. Tobio sighed once more. He was ready to get over that story, but apparently his family would keep the flame alive until it consumed him completely.

“No, mother.” He decided to rip off the band-aid suddendly. “It's okay, Kei didn’t do anything. I can’t believe you came from Miyagi to Tokyo just to confirm what I told you over the phone.”

His mother didn’t seem to fully trust what Tobio was telling her. He finally understood that he had no chances of walking out of that one without giving his mother some answers. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them in Hinata’s direction, sending him a silent request. He wanted Hinata to shrug, to say something like "Not my mother, not my problem" and walk away, as he once would, but the boy seemed extremely shaken by the situation, feeling he should stay there with Tobio, even though that conversation was something private. Tobio frowned, and for the first time his mother noticed that they weren’t alone.

Bad decision.

Tobio always knew that the entire Kageyama family had an old-fashioned way of thinking and acting. His parents marriage had been organized by the grandparents in order to form an alliance with a close family that contained more money than they did. This caused a bit of trouble for his father, who needed to keep his heart open for painting. Maybe that was what had kept him in the shadows, never letting him become famous. It was the best way to raise their only child: a rigid, specific way to show what was right and wrong and how he should behave. It was no surprise that he had become the family's greatest dishonor by running away at age 19.

Tobio could practically hear the gears on his mother's head functioning as she watched the boy, fully absorbing the image that Hinata Shouyou had to offer. A short boy, who had more attitude than both of them standing there, with tattoos running from neck to ankles and knuckles and a delicate face decorated with black piercings all around. The orange hair looked dyed, even if Tobio knew it was natural. He was basically a compilation of things that his family had abominated trough generations. Oh, and he also had polite as a freaking door.

"Mom, stop staring," Tobio said quietly. His mother slowly turned her eyes to Tobio, with a silent question, which he avoided. "Let's grab something to eat. We have a lot to talk about.” he suggested. _Anything to get her away from Hinata._ He thought, surprising himself. He gestured for a nearby restaurant, and as soon as his mother passed, Tobio exchanged a quick glance with the redhead, who nodded.

Before entering the restaurant, Tobio realized that Hinata had entered Heaven's, probably to pass on the message that one of their employees would be late.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

He was smoking when the annoying sound of heels stopped beside him. Hinata looked up, surprised to see Kageyama's mother standing there, looking down at him. She didn’t look happy at all, in fact she looked like someone who just sucked a sour lemon.

“What?” Hinata asked rudely. He hated being stared at like that. If he had all those tattoos and piercings, was because he chose to. He didn’t needed people judging him. He pressed his cigarette on the bottom of his boots and threw the rest away.

"How dare you..." she whispered. Hinata frowned confused. "Tobio is a good boy and... and hanging out with people... like you..." she said, sounding disgusted, "I don’t believe, how can he be so naive? Please stop involving in my son's life.”

Hinata raised his eyebrows.

"Look, lady, with all due respect, your son knows who is who well enough to follow his own path, isn’t he a llittle big enough to keep holding his mother's skirt?" He said putting on a jacket and supporting foot on Ink Oz wall, on his back.

The woman seemed to be pleading a cop to let her son free, but with a disgusted look, which Hinata found funny. She toook a few deep breaths before looking back into his eyes. Hinata found that disconcerting, since the last time a paiir of blue eyes looked at him like that... welll... Kageyama wasn’t his friend.

“I know you did bad things, look at you, anyone can tell..." she grunted. Finally, he understoood why she was looking at him like that. She was staring like she knew everything that happened all those years ago, but she couldn’t knew, after all, no one did, so no one could have...

...told her. Unless someone had. Unless someone heard at college. Unless Kageyama knew.

His breathing stopped.

But it couldn’t be. Kageyama didn’t know, he had asked and... and Hinata had answered. If he knew... he wouldn’t...

He frowned at the woman. She must’ve been lying, she had to. Before he opened his mouth to tell her anything, her back hand hit his face, tossing his head sideways and hair covering his eyes, faster than he could’ve even stopped. The skin was hot and he would probably carry the mark of five fingers announcing to everyone what had happened for a few hours.

"Stay away from him, you freak.” The woman spitted and Hinata could feel his body flinching involuntarily. _Wow, it’s been a while since the last time that happened_ , he thought. Usually the armor he wore was strong enough to take much more than that, but perhaps it was the fact that the woman in front of him was a mother, made this a lot weaker, breaking with only a slap and a few mean words .

“Mom!” A voice shouted. Hinata didn’t look away from the woman standing in front of him, but realized that Kageyama was running from the restaurant “She said she was already leaving, I told her to pass by you without a word!”

If something could’ve hurt even more, Hinata never expected it to be that. Closing his mouth and taking a deep breath to keep his eyes dry, he looked at Kageyama.

"What did you told her?" He asked in a low voice. That couldn’t be happening. He could possibly be acting like a child who needed a hug or a psycho ready to tear someone's head off. Tobio looked confused. He began to form a question on his lips, but Hinata interrupted him with a shriek. “WHAT DID YOU TOLD HER!?”

This made Kageyama stop and instantly close his mouth. It was like the shock of hearing Hinata totally losing control and composure had turned off control of his body. The boy's mother was looking extremely uncomfortable with the situation, because if the screams attracted anyone’s attention she would be caught talking to...

“Red!” a voice called him from behind, and without turning his face he noticed that Kuroo and Iwaizumi had opened the door, looking scared and confused about the commotion that was happening in the sidewalk. Kenma was inside, but curious eyes followed them through the window. In the side shop, Sugawara was out iin a second with a taller boy to his heels, who seemed lost.

“Kageyama, what...?” Sugawara began, and the dark man shrugged jjust confused as the rest of the group. Hinata realized that his hands were shaking.

“I have no idea, he just lost it!” he answered and then looked at his friend again “Red, what...? What is that on your face!?” He asked looking at his mother, as if he didn’t want to believe she had crossed that line. “Did you hit him!?”

“Just fucking answer me.” Red said through clenched teeth, "what did you told her?"

"I didn’t told anything, there's nothing to tell!" he shouted “I asked her to not create a scene, which clearly she didn’t listened.” He finished the sentence staring at his mother.

"You expect me to let my son get infected by someone like that again?" She asked in a low voice, and once again Hinata's eyes were drawn to Kageyama. Who had told him? Had he searched online? Maybe it was possible to find some old records, but in college... maybe someone had told, but... Kageyama didn’t talked to anyone but him.

Some pedestrians stopped halfway to watch and try to understand what was happening, and Kuroo seemed hesitant whether or not to approach and pull his friend in by force.

"There's nothing wrong with that, mom! We’re friends!” Kageyama exclaimed, pointing to the boy standing in front of him. Hinata blinked at the realization that it was the first time that Kageyama had referred to him with that word. He seemed to be shaking as much as Hinata. “And I know what I do with my life and who I want to talk to, I'm not fifteen anymore! I know how to take care of myself.”

"Clearly, no," his mother replied lifting her nose, "if this is the company you found... You should never have left Miyagi, you... you don’t know how to behave alone in a city like this! Your father was right, you were going to do it again... As if... as if _he_ wasn’t enough... do you expect me to let you walk with companies like that again?”

"Why do you always have to find a way to put Kei in the middle of story?!” Kageyama roared and Hinata realized that the boy was on the edge of a cliff, just like him. “This is not even about him! Kei left, okay!? He left and he’s not coming back!”

Kuroo finally had the courage to grab his friend's arm and give a slight tug, trying to make him enter the shop, but... Hinata couldn’t move a muscle, perhaps out of anger or fear... maybe even because of guilt. He noticed his breathing was out of control and people were staring, this wasn’t going to end well...

Like him, Kageyama’s arm was being pulled by Suga, which seemed too scared to call his name loud. Not that he would even listened. It was like Kageyama was alone in a room without anyone around him but his mom and Hinata.

“He's gone.” He said in a low voice.

“Gone.” His mom repeated after him. “I knew that would happen... Tobio.” she called him in a calm voice “Come home, please. You'll let it happen again... this...” the woman looked at Hinata, her mouth ready to continue the sentence, but Kageyama was too out of his damn mind to stop now, even if he crosssed the line of tenuous respect he had with his parents.

“CAN YOU STOP THIS!” He shouted “This isn't about Kei! This is about _Hinata!”_

* * *

 

Tobio realized exactly what he had screamed the moment the name came out of his mouth. Like a whip, his eyes parted from his mother and stared at the red-haired boy standing in front of him, who stared impassively at him, without fully realizing what had happened.

“Hinata?” Kuroo asked in a low voice. “Who’s Hinata?”

When neither Tobio or Hinata himself answered, Kuroo looked around confused. Maybe it was just him who hadn’t understood anything, but apparently all of them were in the same boat. Tobio noticed that his mother was frozen, still shocked by his son's outburst. Not that it mattered. At the moment, all of Tobio's attention was focused on a pair of brown eyes that stared back, practically shattering in front of him.

“Woah!” Iwaizumi exclaimed raising his hands “ _Hinata_?! Like... Hinata from the Hinata family? That family that was on the news a while back?” He looked around and no one answered. The first person to realize what exactly was wrong was Suga, who released Kageyama's arm to cover his mouth with his hands, looking startled at the little boy who was frozen in the middle, trying to swallow that dark secret.

“You promised.” Hinata whispered “You promised me and I trusted you.”

Tobio tried to say that it had been an accident, but he felt like a fish underwater, mouth opening and closing without making a sound and unable to breathe.

“Wait...” Kuroo said in a low voice, and then his eyes stopped in the head of the boy who was in front of him. Without realizing it, he released the boy's arm. That action alone made Hinata lower his head, expecting what would happen next. What the hell was going on? “Hinata?” He asked, then swallowed. “No, this can’t be... I mean... You live with us and... you’ve been here forever. No, God damn it, tell me it's a lie. Tell me whatever the fuck you want, but tell me your last name it’s not _Hinata_.”

The redhead didn’t answered and Tobio looked around.

“Okay, so what if is? What's the matter if he's a little famous?"

“Famous?” Kuroo asked raising his eyes “No... no, this... this isn't what happened... Hinata... this family is known, yes, but because of the great accident. I mean, their son...“ He stared at Kageyama surprised that the boy didn’t understood a word about all of that, so he continued. “Hinata Shouyou was their only son, and he... he murdered his own father.”

Tobio felt his body freeze as he dragged his eyes to the redhead standing in front of him, who was still facing the floor. No, that couldn’t be true. Tobio had heard rumors about deaths, but... he had asked Hinata as soon as they met and and the boy confirmed that he hadn’t killed anyone.

Tobio's mother shifted in less than a second, but before she could speak the first word, Tobio interrupted.

"Shut up for a minute, would you?" He said in a low voice. By miracle, his mother obeyed, but still avoided eye contact with Hinata, as if he would contaminate her with some illness. He kept looking at his friend. “You said it was a lie... I asked you and... you said it wasn’t true...”

Hinata said something that Kageyama couldn’t understand.

“What?” he asked.

“I said it was an accident.” His voice faltered, and then he raised his eyes to Tobio, who was surprised to find them bright with tears while he wass trying so hard not to cry. "It was an accident. Are you happy now?”

With that last phrase, Hinata ran besides Kuroo and into the studio, climbing the stairs with broad jumps.

“Red!” Iwaizumi called, but didn’t try to stop him. They were answered with the sound of a door slamming and locking on the second floor and a few minutes later loud music started to play. Kenma blinked a few times in the same spot before turning the "OPEN/CLOSED" sign.

Tobio didn’t notice his body had institily stepped forward towards the studio before his mother's steady hand held him by the arm.

"You definitely won’t talk to a murderer." She said in a low voice. Tobio didn’t think twice about shaking his arm and getting out of her control.

“That's your fault. If you had listened me once in your life, this wouldn’t have happened.” He said quietly, pointing to where Hinata had disappeared. "You don’t know anything about him. You don’t know anything about _me_. You didn’t while Kei was here, and you don’t now. And this will never change. Then you have the guts to show up here and tell me that... that you’re worried? Worried about what? Me? After you _watched_ dad kick me out? What did you came here for, ruining my life once more?”

No one said a word and for the first time since Tobio had recovered, he cried again. The feeling of the his tears trickling down his face would surprise him if he hadn’t been totally frozen by the rest. His mother didn’t answer and didn’t even try to wipe his face. Tobio didn’t wait to see what she would do, instead he looked at the Ink Oz boys.

Gradually, as he and Hinata became friends, he had grown with the rest of them too and talked at least everyday. They were all good guys, but at the moment they looked extremely lost. Tobio cleared his throat.

"Don’t you dare to treat him differently.” he said. Kuroo was the first to look up at him confused. "Don’t treat him differently, please.” He repeated. "It's true that he told to me that he was no murderer and... over time, I've come to trust more in Red, in Hinata Shouyou than I thought I could. And if he said it was an accident, then it was an accident. You accepted him as Red, even in his thick way of being. Why would it be any different with Hinata? He’s still the same person as he were yesterday.”

No one answered. Before he could say more, Tobio turned and went into the flower shop, Suga and Lev following him quickly.

"Don’t let my mom come in here, please." He asked in a squeaky voice as he tied the apron around his waist. Suga swallowed and closed the door, leaving a woman who seemed too shocked to move by it.

"Kageyama..." Suga called.

"No." He stopped on his feet. "Don’t say anything, please, let’s just... let’s just get to work."

Suga hesitated, then nodded. As they separated various items into pure silence, the Ink Oz boys slowly regained their movements and slowly returned to the studio, that was still blasting the songs, triyng to shut Tobio and the whole world out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder what Kei did.  
> And tell me what you guys think it happened! We'll learn more in a few days!


	7. I think I'm falling in love with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos, I'm sorry I didn't got the time to answer it all, but I've read and I'm so happy ♥ Love you all!
> 
> Second thing: I'm doing the Inktober Challenge and since I'm a stupid fuck I forgot to make a few to get a headstart, so I'm running against time, that's why I don't think I'll be able to translate the next chapter until next week... or maybe the other one? But It's all written out yet, it's not a huge problem. 
> 
> This is a sweet chapter. AND THERE YOU GO BABIES, more dark pasts for you.

After a few days, Tobio was beginning to fall into despair.

Being in a place without having any friends to talk to and spend days in silence without talking to anyone was never a problem for him, but he came to find out that if you _have_ a friend, someone you can count on, and for some reason lose, then it all comes off the swing.

Okay, he admitted that even he didn’t know if he was ready to face Hinata after all that mess, but he actually didn’t even had the chance. For days and days, the songs on Ink Oz played loudly, and no one had the guts to ask Red, or Hinata, to put down the sound. The studio worked with only two tattoo artists, and after the news arrived to Yachi she spent a few days without visiting the flower shop itself. Tobio refused to ask for any explanation for Suga, and that same night when he went upstairs to his apartment, he searched online.

Maybe the most shocking part was seeing pictures of a boy who remembered a lot the Hinata he knew, but at the same time, they were totally different people. The skin was still pale just llike now, but there wasn’t a single drawing to mark it, and the unadorned face of his piercings reminded him of a lost child. The photo had the boy crouched by a chair, and his hands were being cleaned with a white cloth, which gradually seemed to turn redder and darker. He seemed loost and wasn’t even crying.

The story didn’t explain much, but one thing was clear: Hinata Shouyou had committed the murder of his father, Hinata Eiji, seven years ago when he was only thirteen years old, using a 48mm revolver that belonged to his own father firing two shots, one on his torso and one in his head.

It wasn’t exactly explained what had happened to the boy, but in all matters he had been referred to a youth center since he refused to say a word. After that, the information stopped.

Tobio had thought hard about what Hinata had told him _. It was an accident._ It was hard to believe that the situation could be considered an accident, but he had decided that he would trust him. He just wanted a chance for all of that to be properly explained, and also to apologize in announcing in front of everyone who he was. The problem was that Red had been avoiding him for days.

During class, Red sat back and he gave Tobio no chance to stop him to talk, and it was the same during lunch times. Tobio noticed some new tattoos he probably had done himself, and the clothes looked more and more scary, probably to keep people from messing with him. Tobio also made it clear to all other students that he was on the same level, and wouldn’t deal with rumors right now.

Apparently, his request to the Ink Oz employees had worked, because every day Hinata continued to return to the studio and the music continued to play. After two weeks at this rate, Tobio decided that he couldn’t do that anymore.

“Suga-san?” he called that afternoon, having spent the whole morning scheduling the plan “Can I leave early today? I have to solve something in the bank.”

“Oh!” Suga looked up and stopped sweeping for a brief moment “Of course, no problem! If you really want, you can go already. Today is quiet!”

With a brief bow, the boy untied his apron and hung it in the usual place. When he came back home he would take it upstairs. Tobio put his wallet in his pocket and left the store, hoping to distract the senpai as he went to the establishment next door, in the environment that smelled of cherries and fresh paint.

Kenma was the first to see him, looking up from his gameboy.

"Tobio." he said.

“Er... hi, Kenma.” he said wetting his lips, always taken by surprise by the casual way the boy called everyone by the first name “Do you guys have any time for a session today?”

The boy raised one eyebrow and lowered the gameboy long enough to look at the schedule.

“Actually yes. Hajime has the whole afternoon. Already have in mind what you’ll want?” He said as he picked up a pen.

"Actually, I wanted a session with Red.”

Kenma froze in place and looked up at him. Tobio waited for an answer, and Kenma realizing that he wasn’t joking, turned the pages of his diary to confirm.

“He has some free time. Is it okay if I schedule it by another name? I believe he’ll deny doing the work if he knows it’s you.” Kenma said quietly, looking softly at Tobio, who shrugged.

“It's all right. I figured Red would do it anyway.”

“Hinata.” Kenma corrected him. It caught Tobio's eye, which glanced over his shoulder. Kenma seemed to be having some difficulty getting used to it. “We call him Hinata now. Except... unless he asks us to stop.”

"So..." Tobio began, "are you all in good terms?"

"Bit by bit." Kenma said as he wrote Tobio's data on the agenda. "I think it’s hardest for him. Sometimes we're not even thinking about it, but it's like he's a deer inside a hunting season. Any sound or something that happens can be a trigger.”

Tobio swallowed. “Sorry about that.”

“It's okay.” The boy said. Without giving more space to the subject, he returned to play. Tobio even preferred it that way. Kenma was a very perceptible person and being exposed to someone like that for a long period was risky. Tobio went to the side seats and sat, waiting for the time to be called. Further down the hall he saw Kuroo sitting on his back, finishing a tattoo on the arm of a boy who seemed to be so relaxed he could sleep.

It wasn’t long before he heard the upstairs door open and the light cleared the stairs.

“Next!”

Tobio took a deep breath and then stood up, going through the studio completely for the first time. Kuroo waved him timidly as he passed and he responded with a nod, beginning to feel extremely claustrophobic in the middle of all those mirrors. He stepped up the stairs, taking care to make minimal noise, and finally emerged at the top of the shop, closing the door behind him.

The top of the studio was unlike anything he had ever imagined.

There were messy drawing papers scattered across the two tables by the door, and the tile on the floor was made of black and white. Right in the middle of the room was a specific chair for tattoos and some props. It was also much smaller than the downstairs. Just outside the door, under the table, were two giant speakers.

The boy was sitting on his back, beginning to re-prepare a machine with fast hands that totally took the brunette’s concentration. Hinata was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt, which highlighted even more the shimmering shade of his hair and he was tapping his feet to the ground with a song he was humming. Tobio knew what was happening with him for some weeks, as he began to notice that he knew all the details of the boy, from the clothes he wore to how many freckles he had on his cheeks. The thing is, he wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t ready for another round.

Tobio took a deep breath.

"Aren’t you going to wear gloves?" he asked. Hinata froze in the same position as he was and then glanced over his shoulder with a terrifying face.

“What are you doing here?”

Tobio looked around, trying to get out of the pressure of that look.

“You’ve been ignoring me everyday, so I was forced to appeal to more drastic measures.” He paused “Should I take my shirt off?"

"I'm not tattooing you." Hinata warned, still standing in the same position, as if he didn’t fully trust that his body would not push the machine into his client's forehead.

"I paid for the service." Tobio shrugged. “Then I think you will. Can I sit down?”

Hinata went back to his back and by the movement on his shoulders Tobio could see that he was taking a deep breath, deciding whether he was worth it because he needed the money or if that was a service that was worth jumping.

"Sit down before I change my mind." He answered in a low voice and Tobio obeyed, taking off his shirt and folding it in his lap. He sat with his back to Hinata and thanked that there was no mirrors on the second floor, maybe he didn’t have all the courage he would need for this if he had to face his own face. As Hinata finished preparing in silence, Tobio noticed that more in the corner were some folded covers and a cushion. “Okay. What the fuck do you want?”

“You need to be more polite to your customers.”

"And you need to shut up and tell me what the fuck you want me to tattoo on your damn back." He countered in a low voice. Tobio swallowed before shrugging, glad to be on his back.

"Do something you think will fit me. Or... I don’t know, whatever. Do anything.”

“I could tattoo ‘ _watch out for the asshole’_ here.” Hinata answered too seriously.

Tobio took a deep breath.

“I trust you.” He said in a low voice. Hinata kept silent and allowed that message to be absorbed, before thrusting Tobio's back into the position he wanted the boy to stay. Without even telling him, he began. Tobio made sure to don’t ask what the boy was drawing at all, even if it was forever. It was crazy and reckless, but he knew what he was talking about and knew that what he believed was true. He trusted Hinata. A stupid decision considering they hated themselves only two months ago, but the boy earned that respect point.

Tobio waited at least a few minutes after Hinata had started the begin.

"I left home in the middle of last year.” he started. "Miyagi has always been a quiet place, and maybe that was one of the secondary reasons. My father used to work painting pictures in the downtown church and making private portraits for those who paid well. I've always wanted more than that. I was eight when he took me to an art gallery for the first time. On that day, I knew what my dream was: I needed my works to be exposed, to have people finally understanding my emotions, and all through paintings. I wouldn’t have to say a word.”

Hinata kept working without interruption. Then Tobio continued.

"I went to the high school arts club, and that's where I met Kei.” Tobio gulped. "He loved music more than anything, especially soundtracks. He wanted to be famous someday, and I’ll tell you, he had potential. He knew that this would never happen in Miyagi, and since child he planned to come to Tokyo. He was... an interesting person. He was extremely rude to anyone who talked to him, yes, but if he felt the slightest bit of affection for you he would protect you no matter what. Maybe that was the biggest reason that led me to fall in love with him.” Tobio waited, waiting for some reaction from Hinata. The only one he got was a little pause of hesitation before the trace continued. He breathed in. "We started dating when we were seventeen, and we hid the whole thing out.”

“You obviously saw how my family acts when they’re forced to face things they’re not mentally ready to. Kei hated that. He said that I would be forever trapped in their chains and that I would die in that city. Stopping to think nowadays, our relationship was somewhat abusive. But I loved him, and at that time I would do anything to make him like me more and more. Anything at all. Even running away from home.”

This time, Hinata paused. Tobio glanced over his shoulder and found the boy staring at him, waiting for him to finish a piece of the story.

"He convinced me that I should run away. That I should come with him to Tokyo. He had full permission from his parents, who believed that he would come with me and that my parents were ok with that, which was definitely a lie. The night we decided to come, I told the whole thing at the dinner table.” Tobio hesitated. "It was the worst night of my life.”

Hinata went back to work.

"I remember my mother holding back my father when he tried to get on top of me, shouting that he refused to have a 'faggot' child, that the legacy he had spent years building married to that 'slut' was thrown into the garbage when she gave birth to a monster like me. My mother wasn't much better. She cried the whole time, and kept repeating that she was dreaming, that couldn’t be happening and that I had to stop playing with them, that I didn’t know what I was saying and that it was a disappointment.” Tobio laughed without looking amused. "I think she was kind right...-"

"She wasn’t right.” Hinata interrupted.

“Huh?”

"She wasn’t right. You’re no disappoitment, at least not compared to other things.” He finished in a low voice. Tobio looked away and waited a few moments before resuming the story.

"We traveled to Tokyo that night, and all the way Kei didn’t lift a finger to calm me down, saying I should be happy, because I would never have to look in my parents' face again. He never stopped me from contacting them and... sending news. I did that myself.” He sighed. "Our first few months here in Tokyo were... incredible. Yes, he was always a complicated person and we fought a lot, but soon he got a job in a music studio. I've never seen him so happy.”

Hinata alternated between scratches and run the paper over bruised skin, taking away the excess of black paint. Tobio took a deep breath at least three times before starting the final part.

"Not long after he started working, he started coming home late. Well, if our little place could be called home. He didn’t talked to me that much anymore and was distant. I spent every day at home and was unemployed. One day, in a fit of jealousy, I followed him after he ‘went out with some friends’. He went to a restaurant where he actually met some friends from work, but soon they all left and left him alone with this guy. You must imagine my face when I saw them exchanging kisses under the candlelight.” Tobio bit his lip. "The worst part was that I knew the guy. We were introduced a few weeks ago, and... I don’t know, I think he preferred someone who was from the same area and who wasn’t... so afraid to show affection in public. I mean, there's _no way_ for me to be open in public after everything I've heard in my own house."

“Kei left me a week later, when I lost control and told him I already knew. He told me that since he was the only one who worked, the rented place belonged to him. I had every right to stay, but Tadashi was going to spend a lot of time there. In a few days I got a hotel that I could keep for a while, but if I hadn’t met Yachi-san by the end of the year, I would’ve gone crazy and probably would be sleeping in a alley. I couldn’t find a place to live and every time Tadashi appeared with a guilty look, I wanted to die. I couldn’t go home, God no, my father would kill me.” He looked at Hinata “Sorry for the unintentional pun.”

The redhead shrugged and continued.

"Yachi-san gave me a job, a house, and I had already done college admittance exams. Kei never knew, of course, and I refused to contact my parents. I didn’t dare tell them, and then... here I am.”

Hinata hung up the tattoo machine and wiped a wet paper over it, trying to soothe the bruised, reddish skin.

"Why did you told me all of this?" He asked as he made a small bandage, his fingers scraping on the skin like a touch of feathers, leaving a trail of heat and sparks wherever they passed. Tobio shrugged.

"You’ve confided in me an important fact of your life, even if it was with a few words and a lot of help from the internet. I trust you. And I want you to trust me too. I'm sorry for announcing who you really were.” He bit his lip and slammed his eyes on the folded covers again. "You should go back to live with Kenma. He's not mad at you anymore, you know?”

"I know." Hinata sighed and pulled off his gloves with a snap “But I can’t. I feel they’ll talk about me and... I can’t. I prefer my studio.”

"It's just as small as you." Tobio risked and got a slap in his ribs.

"Fuck you, Tobio.” he said. Tobio barely had time to process the fact that the boy had used his first name before Hinata stand. The redhead folded the sleeves of his blouse, revealing the various designs he carried. Tobio remembered the photo he had seen, the clean-skinned child, and it took him no more than two seconds to say he preferred this one. In this way, at least some of Hinata's emotions and feelings were exposed to anyone who was interested in noticing. This is what Tobio wanted as a painter, right?

Hinata handed him a small mirror on the counter, helping him place in the right place to see the finished work. On his right shoulder blade he could see the silhouette of a flying bird with wings outstretched, adorned in a bluish watercolor. Some feathers were falling around him and he had his beak open, as if he were making some sound. Overall it beautiful.

"A crow? Why?" he asked.

Hinata shrugged.

“Technically crows were predicted to be a bad sign. It was basically what I felt when I met you.” He answered with embarrassment and Tobio realized that he began to play with his fingers, trying to distract himself. "You looked like who could easily knock down the barrier that I'd spent years building, and I freaked out. Sorry for the whole scene the afternoon we met. Most of what I said was a lie.” He smoothed his curls back and Tobio noticed the scar he now had in his eyebrows, reminding him that the boy had also faced a rough past. "But... crows were also seen as protection. And I think that was the message you passed when you defended me on the campus that day. Now I understand why you were so bothered to see someone being called a monster, even though I _am_ one.”

“I trust you.” Tobio repeated once more. “You won that position. If you say it was an accident then it was an accident.”

Tobio looked at the tattoo again and decided that he loved it. That was a sign, somethingg to remind him that his point of view about people can change, both for good and bad. He had changed his mind about Kei, and he had changed his mind about Hinata. And also the point of view of other people about him might change with time, which gave him a little hope that maybe someday hiis family might see him different again.

"Hinata," he tried as he lowered the mirror quietly to his lap. “What happened? Seven years ago.”

“I don’t want to talk about that.” The redhead countered without hesitation.

"But I'm not judging or anything!" Tobio said “I ... I just want to understand. I have no problem with what happened, I’m the best person in the world to understand that what is in the past is in the past, and that the life we lead today is different.”

"No, Kageyama," Hinata said, gesturing with an open hand at him and his face closed. "You want to come here and apologize for telling everyone my secret and tell me your story, okay, but I won’t talk about mine. I'm not prepared for it.” Tobio opened his mouth to try to argue that he was really only worried and that it would do him good to take that weight off his back, but it was stopped “God, no! You're like a child who doesn’t understand when people tell you no.” Hinata ran a hand through his hair making it more messy than it usually were, curls pointing in all directions. Tobio let himself be distracted by the softness just for a second. "Get out of here." He said, pointing to the door.

“No, please Hinata...!” He raised his hand in the boy's direction.

“Now.”

Tobio bit his lip and realized that forcing that issue would be the worst choice, even if he went insane without any answers. He nodded briefly and pulled on his blouse, taking care of the bandage. Without looking back, he went down the stairs and left the studio.

 

* * *

 

 

That night Tobio couldn’t sleep.

Maybe after a few hours he could fall asleep of exhaustion from spinning from side to side, uncertain whether he wanted to be covered or not. Still, he felt tired, as if he had been in a marathon for hours. Perhaps the fact that he had been trying to organize his thoughts since returning from Ink Oz had contributed to this.

He grunted and turned with his face crumpled on the pillow. Maybe if he stayed too long in that position he would die suffocated, it would be a rewarding way to leave this world. That was what he was thinking when he heard the sound of a door being opened downstairs. He frowned and leaned on his elbows, trying to hear better. Could it be Yachi-san, who had forgotten something? It was possible.

But it was also possible that a thief was attempting to rob Tokyo's largest flower shop, hoping to find a good deal in the box.

Tobio got up from the bed struggling to make no sound and went quietly to the sink, where he picked up a kitchen knife. He took a deep breath and went to the door, trying to hear any sound outside. Whoever it was, it was very quiet. Maybe if Tobio opened the door very slowly, he wouldn’t do anyt-

Before he could do anything, his room door opened and he screamed, not even thinking twice before shoving the knife in front of him.

Luckily, Hinata had a great reflex.

“Woah, what’s wrong with you!?” He got up and slapped Tobio's hand, knocking the knife up and down the stairs. "It's me, you stupid bastard!"

Tobio felt his mouth open and close like a fish, and then he noticed that he wasn’t breathing. He put one hand on his knee and the other on his heart, trying to stop it from jumping out as Hinata closed the door behind him and entered his small apartment.

“My problem!?” he shouted back, not paying attention to the clock “You don’t even work here, there's no key, how the hell did you got in!?”

"Breaking the door, obviously!?"

"Oh, of course, its freaking obvious! And what..." Tobio replied dryly before straightening up and looking at the boy for the first time since he had walked uninvited, ready to warn him how mad Yachi-san would be. As soon as his eyes rested on him, Tobio closed his mouth and froze. “What... what happened?”

Hinata was wearing black pajama pants larger than he was, but it was still possible to see the tip of his foot, which probably indicated that he had come here in the cold barefoot, wearing old, crumpled clothes, but what caught his attention of Tobio was in fact his face.

Hinata always had an expression of confidence, sometimes even too much. The brown eyes were usually vivid and ready for battle, different from now. He looked like he barely survived one. The orange hair was disheveled and some piercings were out of place, as if he had rubbed his face in all directions. He sobbed in silence once, preventing himself from making any sound.

"Hinata." Tobio whispered.

“I’m sorry.” He said looking down.

“No need to feel s...-”

"I'm sorry for acting like a douch with you.” He announced “You’re my only true friend and I never wanted to hurt you in making you think that I don’t trust you,” he rubbed his hands together before continuing “which is ridiculous because we’ve known each other for three months only, but... but you knew who I was.” one more sob “You knew and yet you didn’t ran away. People got tired of telling you to walk away, but you defended me and made me... made me happy. It's been a while...”

Tobio waited in silence and let the boy finish, afraid that if he interrupted, Hinata would never have the courage to finish.

"I never told anyone anything, but... people found out... I mean, it’s not hard, it’s all over the internet and the TV news held the case for months.” He sighed more to himself than to the boy who was still staring at him.

“I never knew anything.” Tobio confirmed “Usually Tokyo’s news don’t make to Miyagi and the channels are different. I would never know.”

"It was an accident, I promise." Hinata sobbed and let his head fall into his hands. "I never... I never wanted to kill him, I just... he _had_ to stop! I had to do something to stop him, if I didn’t... he was going towards my mother and my sister, I had to do _something_ , but... but it wasn’t for him to die! I- I'm sorry, forgive me... I just... I-!

When the sobs got out of control, Tobio closed the distance between them and hugged the smaller boy fitting him to his chest and buried his nose in his messy hair. Hinata didn’t hugged him back, no matter how much the other wrapped his arms around him. Tobio held him there in the middle of the room, supporting the boy’s full weight as he let Hinata cry and shiver.

Maybe they stayed there for another five minutes or maybe it was a full hour, but at a certain point, Hinata lifted his head and looked up. His eyes were definitely more swollen now that he had thrown everything out, but still, Tobio regretted not having turned on the light when the boy came in, because in that brief instant he had never seen anything more beautiful.

Okay, it was suspicious to say so, since he knew he was being attracted to him, but even when he still hated him, he couldn’t deny that Hinata Shouyou was gorgeous, and he knew that accepting that a person you technically hated was beautiful, was a starting line for hell.

His hair, his lips, his eyes, his jaw, it was all extremely attractive, and Tobio found himself having difficulty breathing. _It's too early to fall in love again_ , he thought. The boy in his arms held his gaze, as if daring him to do something else as he tried to recover and then licked his own lips, accidentally turning the black ring that wrapped around the bottom one. Tobio took a deep breath and felt his eyes drift, drawn by the movement. How would it be if he...

He didn’t notice he was biting his lips until he felt the tip of his fingers pull the bruised flesh. Hinata lowered his hand slowly, afraid he had gone too fast, but at this point Tobio could no longer recognize the speed of certain things. The taller one simply closed his eyes, and asked for something to stop that, because he wouldn’t have the strenght to do it.

Hinata, as always, disobeyed.

He felt it even without seeing it. He felt when Hinata decided to support his shaking hands on his shoulders to balance him better, as he tiptoed to stand taller. He felt trembling eyelashes touch his cheek, indicating how close the boy really was. He felt his warm breath strike his face, begging for something else as he leaned down and gently rested his lips on top of his

Tobio's strong heart quickly failed and he felt as if his knees were wobbling. Maybe they were. He frowned, and the only thing he remembered to think was ‘this is different from Kei’ before his mouth moved on his own. He framed his smaller lips and encouraged him to continue, even if his brain was down, unable to send any command anywhere else in his body, except for the tiny point where Hinata had decided to connect them.

Later he would remember the hands that were squeezing both his shoulder so hard that he would probably bruise, and perhaps how his own tongue had adjusted the piercing in place, causing the boy in his arms to moan softly.

_Holy shit._

He pushed the boy away faster than thought he could at the first sign that his hormones were responding inappropriately for a first kiss, even for the little orange-haired demon in his hands.

"Sorry, I-" Hinata ran his hands through his hair and lowered his face, trying to take control of the situation. Tobio felt he needed to count his breath, it was disconcerting “I shouldn’t... even more after everything you told me today...”

"It’s all right ... I- I wanted too. Sorry.” Tobio admitted and Hinata looked up at him. Both held up their eyes and Tobio noticed for the first time how fragile the boy was looking back at him, now that the mask he created as "Red" had shattered on the floor.

"I... I should go back..." Hinata said softly. "I just came to apologize. It's already late.”

“You can stay the night if you want.”

 _WHAT THE FUCK TOBIO_. Mentally, he slapped himself in the face, and gave another one even stronger after seeing the boy's eyes widening in surprise.

"I mean..." Tobio went on, feeling his cheeks burn. "Not to do... anything, it's just that it's late! And- and it's cold! And you're barefoot..." _Honestly, was that the best excuse he could give?_ The redhead raised his eyebrows and lowered his head, staring at the toes he was now moving. The sight was so sweet that Tobio wanted to punch him.

“Are you sure?”

Tobio nodded.

He waited for Tobio to point towards the sofa, but the brunette led him to the bed. He avoided looking around, feeling an intruder in the environment he hadn’t even been allowed to see yet, but still Tobio noticed that he cast a few curious glances at his drawing table. He lay down quickly, turning his back to the room, probably feeling exposed after all that scene. Tobio watched as he pulled the covers up to his shoulders, leaving only the orange locks out of the cocoon and then sighed.

“I’m sorry again. We... talk tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure” Tobio replied and he saw Hinata nod.

“Okay. Good night, Tobio.”

“Good night.”

Tobio stood there, not quite sure how to proceed, until Hinata's breathing became rhythmic and the boy fell asleep peacefully in the bed that he had been rolling on and on. It was standing there that Tobio realized that people were right when they talked about love. It's like the rain. You can see the signs if you are paying attention, but you are still caught totally off guard.

He felt his heart skip a beat inside his chest and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he whispered "I didn't mean it, but I think I'm falling in love with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> '0' Oh Kei....  
> Poor babies. Sorry that I like making you suffer?


	8. A pack of who Hinata Shouyou really was

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omG I SORRY? 
> 
> Sorry sorry sorry, It's been a while, damn you Inktober makiing me spend every single free time drawing. Sorry guys!  
> Here's the new chapter! We'll see more of our redhead devil's past!

Tobio only realized it was saturday and that he didn’t had to work after he got dressed. Trying to curse under his breath, he threw the piece of cloth again on the doorframe, and since he couldn’t sleep anymore he decided he would make coffee.

Last night he had slept on the couch, using a pillow cushion and Hinata's soft breathing as a lullaby. Even though he was almost asleep, he was always paying attention on any movement on the bed near the window, but the boy was like a stone, probably tired after a long exhausted day.

Letting the scent of coffee decorate the apartment, he went to his closet and picked a black t-shirt and old sports pants, clothes that he knew it was too small for him.

“This is for me?” A voice startled him across the room. Tobio felt his cheeks flush and took a deep breath, urging his body to control himself as he turned to face the boy now sitting in the middle of the covers.

"I thought you might like to take a shower. I know the studio opens on saturdays. It would be nice to work in decent clothes and not in pajamas.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Hinata countered, but he had a small smile of thanks on his lips. Hinata straightened his hair by running his fingers on it, trying to prevent fromm lookking like a lion. "We didn’t spoke recently, so I couldn’t ask anything. What happened to your mother?”

Tobio laughed ungraciously and went to the bed, carrying the clothes he had separated and sat on the edge.

"She spent a few days in Tokyo, and she tried to talk to me anyway. There was a point that I had to give, so I asked her to go back to Miyagi and forget everything that had happened.” He laughed again. "I don’t think it worked. I know my mom. She probably told father what happened and he must be furious. But it's okay, none of them will do anything.” _No one will attack you again._

Hinata began to play with the edge of the bedsheet and nodded in silence.

“I'm sorry about... last night. I didn’t plan to come here and have an emotional crisis, and then do that right after you told me about your last shitty relationship...”

“It's all right.” Tobio heard himself say, "No problem.” _As long it’s you._

Honestly, he had to control his subconscious.

"And I'm sorry about your fucking relationship too. This Kei looks like an asshole.” He said seriously and Tobio smiled and shrugged.

“As long and he enjoys his life away from mine, it's okay.”

Hinata kept waiting for him to finish the conversation, and then Tobio sighed.

"I don’t want him to be... unhappy, you know? Deep down he’s a good person.”

"It must be really deep.”

“Maybe, but he is. If the life he’s taking makes him happy, that's awesome, so he can spend the rest of it away from me.” He finished as he began folding the covers on the bed, with Hinata still sitting on top of most of them.

"Are you scared? Of... of falling in love with him again?" Hinata asked quietly “Have a relapse?”

"No," Tobio said, surprising himself. “If you love someone and then suddendly fall for somebody else, stay with the second one, after all you weren’t the right person for the first then. Right?” He said, aware that the advice was for both Kei and him “He chose Tadashi. And I chose-...“ Tobio interrupted “myself. I just don’t think it would be healthy to meet Kei after all this time. As I said, our relationship could be considered abusive, and he was never good to hold back smart comments.”

Hinata looked offended.

"Do you think he might hurt you? _Again?_ Even after all this time and all that you went through because of him? I'll beat down that idiot if I cross him.”

Tobio laughed, but maybe he was nervous. _Please_ , if he had any request for the deities looking at him, it was so that Kei and Hinata would _never_ cross each other's path.

"Not hurt, but maybe... trigger something?" He said with a shrug. "Like I said, Kei is a complicated person. But you don’t have to think about it, he lives far away from here and he definitely don’t wanna see me again, just like me. I'll be fine." He ruffled the hair that Hinata fixed. "And stop being a troublemaker, please, someday somebody's going to finish you."

“You wish.” Hinata said jumping off the bed and messing up the covers Tobio had just doubled over. The dark-haired man sighed and did it again, watching as the boy sat on the edge of the balcony.

Tobio poured two mugs and held out one in Hinata’s direction, who took it willingly. As the redhead warmed his hands in the cup, Tobio stared at his knuckles and the letters of the word "hope" tattooed in dark ink. His other hand was hidden underneath, but Tobio already had the image marked in his mind to know it was a lion.

"You're staring." Hinata distracted him with a small laugh, and Tobio swallowed hard.

“Sorry.” He said, lowering his head and forcing his eyes to focus on something else.

“It's all right. Usually I don’t like people to see, they always think I'm an irresponsible child. My height doens’t helps.” He rolled his eyes and then looked at Tobio with a smile that made the brunet stop breathing. "But you look at them different.”

“I - I do?” Tobio stammered.

Hinata laughed. This was going to be difficult.

"You don’t have to hide it. You always find an excuse to look.” He said in a low voice and Tobio felt his face warm once more. _Damn, it was that obvious?_ He'd always been curious about the lines that adorned Hinata's skin, but he'd always gotten away making himmself believe it was because he wasn’t used to. Later he realized it was a lot more than that.

"If you don’t like it and you know I look, why didn’t you said anything?"

"Actually I didn’t know, but you just confirmed." Tobio opened his mouth and Hinata began to laugh. “Thanks, Tobio.”

Although Tobio felt betrayed by the malicious move, he was in silence when the boy stretched his arms across the counter, one on either side of the mug and lifted the sleeves of his blouse up to his biceps, exposing all the designs in his arms.

"I said I usually don’t like it, but... it's different when it's you. It’s no problem.” He said shyly and let Tobio absorb every detail.

The tattoos were different than Tobio had imagined at first. Each drawing was separate from each other, but they didn’t seem to be there randomly, as if they were telling a story and were linked by a watercolor on the background, some were colored, others only had the outline. He could see a rabbit, a landscape from a mountain, a ship, a balloon with a little girl, a poem, a ballerina, a goblin, a bunch of bluish flowers, and even a revolver. They continued to the base of his neck, where there was a sun in the middle and the wings extending at the sides.

Even without looking, he knew he didn’t had any tattoo on his face, but piercing was a different story. He had them on his eyebrows, on the edge of his mouth, on the nose and some on the ears, probably extensors.

“Why?” Tobio asked “I mean.... what made you want so many?”

Hinata didn’t flinch and continued to stare at his own drawn skin, then shrugged.

"The first one I did was my mother's initials. They're on my back.” he explained when Tobio searched and didn’t find them “It hurt like a bitch so I thought it could be a proper punishment for... for what I did.” He finished. "But I like them now.” He smiled.

"Are your back filled too?" Tobio asked, hoping this wasn’t too off-topic, but the redhead nodded cheerfully.

“Chest partially, and half of both legs.”

Tobio raised his eyebrow. _Was that enough to upset mom?_

“I know it weird, I mean... I don’t have the courage to dye my hair, but shove lifelong drawings on my skin without being able to take it off? Sure, why not?” He said sarcastically.

“I like it.” Tobio said, meeting Hinata' eyes. "The main reason I want to become a painter is to expose my emotions with images. And that's exactly what you did. They tell your story and tell you who you are.”

The boy remained silent and then lowered his eyes to the drawing, before smirking at Tobio.

"And what is my story?"

Tobio blinked wondering if he had really asked that question. He knew he probably wouldn’t get half of it right, but brown eyes encourage him to continue, at least curious about what Tobio had understood, but he was already too used with Hinata to know that the boy was just waiting for a chance.

"I'm sure the goblin symbolizes you."

The elbow he received was deserved.

"Speaking of tattoos, I hope you're taking good care of yours." The redhead said, sipping the coffee. "I'm not going to redo that shit, you bleed like a pig.”

Tobio put his hand on his back and felt the edge of the curative.

“I loved it. I liked your vision of what it meant. I kept thinking that maybe blue meant freedom.” Tobio said looking back, and Hinata licked his lips.

"Or maybe it's blue because of your eyes."

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” He said and then blinked a few times. “What's your favorite?” Hinata asked suddenly. Tobio continued to stare at the boy still trying to understand what he had said now, confused by the sudden exchange of matter. "You said you looked at them, even before I said anything. So, now you could give it a proper look, what's your favorite?”

Tobio had to think to answer that question. He liked them all since it was a pack of who Hinata Shouyou really was, but that was always...

“That one”. He said, pointing to the bunch of flowers on the boy's left forearm. "Maybe it's because I work at a flower shop and I’m used to flowers, but... I've never seen those before. What are they?”

Hinata smiled and lifted his arm to check himself.

"No wonder you don’t know these. They’re extremely rare.” He explained. "When I was a child, my mother told me and my sister that they were fairy flowers, because everything they touched turned blue. It was enough to captivate both of us. We discovered years later that it is nothing more than a genetic mutation in cherry blosssoms, where the only thing changed is their color. The name is Blue Sakura.”

"It's not like the others."

"Oh, no..." Hinata giggled shyly and his other hand directly slid into his hair. "Kenma did this one."

“Kenma?!” Tobio exclaimed “I thought he didn’t make any tattoos!”

"He can, he just don’t like doing it.” Hinata explained “I blackmailed him because he was the only one between us that can made this kind of watercolor. We traded a Pokémon in his DS. It was hard, I had to detail perfectly so that he could get what I wanted. He never saw one.”

“Me neither.”

"I would’ve been surprised if you had.” Hinata answered drinking the whole coffee mug at once. “They’re beautiful. We had one on our backyard.” Tobio watched him silently, and he noticed when his eyes warmed as he remembered something. "They're my sister's favorite. I remember both of us running with the most we could carry into the house, just to drop them at our mother's feet because it made her smile. I never saw theses flowers again.”

"You seemed close.” Tobio said hesitantly, taking the mug and beginning to wash it, hoping the cold water would help him distract himself from the boy's soft face.

“We are. We _were_.” He corrected himself, wrinkling his face and lowering the sleeves of his shirt again. "Natsu and I were close. I doubt that after all that happened I could say we still are. Nah, definitely not.”

"I saw some pictures of her on the news.” Tobio admitted chewing his lip. "You two look the same.”

He thought Hinata was gonna get angry, but the boy just smiled, as if even after all these years he was still proud to talk about his sister. He didn’t need to say it out loud, but Natsu was probably the person Hinata most loved in this entire world.

Hinata took a few deep breaths and then curled his arms around himself. Slowly he lowered his head and leaned on the counter with his eyes closed. Tobio frowned and was ready to ask if he was okay, if he had a stomach ache or something, but then Hinata started talking.

"When I was four, I told my mother I wanted a baby sister. Natsu was born a little after I turned five. Our family was... known in the neighbourhood since I was always a loud child. We were happy. My father played with us every afternoon, and I still remember the scent of the cookies my mom used to make. We had a dog.” He added, as if having a dog in the family confirmed that their life was perfect. "We were too young to notice when my father lost his job and started drinking. My mother knew, of course. For us it was just another day of hide and seek.”

“It was a routine.” He opened his eyes but didn’t raise his head. "Dad gave our dog away, said it was becoming too expensive, and every new day my mother showed up with a different wound. Me and him... we fought a few times. Usually I left Natsu locked in my wardrobe when I heard mom scream and tried to get him off her. That's how I learned to fight. On that... that afternoon, Natsu had just arrived from school and I was playing with her. We were being too loud and mom was telling us to be quiet, but she was laughing, even with her arm bandaged.” Tobio was impressed by the amount of details Hinata remembered from that day, but it wasn’t a big surprise. "Dad came home drunk with a gun and... and it was like the whole place had frozen. Me and Natsu stopped running and... Mom pushed us back, and I remember her asking dad to calm down. He... started saiyng something to her, something I didn’t understood. He owed someone, I think...”

Hinata closed his eyes again.

“He looked so different from the man that uused to play with us. When he started to scream, Natsu started to cry and he lost his temper. I don’t know how, but I reacted so quickly... when he came towards us, I pushed mom and Natsu back, trying to get in front of them, but he pushed me away. It wasn’t difficult, I was always small.” He frowned. "He ran towards them and... he... he pointed the gun at mom. Natsu was crying but she got in the way... brave, _brave_ girl...”

He lifted his head and looked forward without focusing on anything, and Tobio noticed that he was completely in control, his eyes weren’t even wet.

"I still don’t know exactly what happened, what I did and how the hell I got there so fast, but... I took the gun out of his hand, kicked it and shook it until I got it and then I pointed it at his direction trying to stop him. When he screamed and ran towards me, he... he wasn’t my father. It was just someone who was going to kill me, and then kill my mother and sister.” He laughed without being amused. "It was the first time I even held a gun in my entire life and I didn’t even know how to pull the trigger, but I did it. The kick was so hard that I fell bakwards. It had splashed some blood in the room and I could hear them screaming behind me, but... he just looked at his injured belly, growled and kept going.” Hinata paused and swallowed hard. “I aimed. I fucking aimed. I aimed and shot the second time with my eyes closed.”

"I remember the blood spurting on me, and my ears were muffled when my father hit the ground. Natsu and mom were still screaming, but I couldn’t move. I stayed there, like a statue, holding the gun still pointed up... I remember feeling my whole body tremble. When I had the strength to open my eyes, my father was dead literally at my feet, and... well, I was as bloody as he was. I dropped the gun and tried to run to my mother, I... I..." He stuttered and took a deep breath. “I was gonna start crying at any moment, but... when I tried to go to my mom, she... she put my sister behind her and... she looked _so scared_. It was right there that hit me that I had become the monster that I had just saved them.”

Hinata shook his head and giggled.

"When the police arrived, they took me to... I don’t know, to testify? Something like that, I don’t remember. I spent days without sleeping because I couldn’t stop hearing my sister screams and see my mom scared of me. I had just taken my father out of their lives.” he said, putting his hand on the counter, as if proving a point. "I couldn’t go back and start all over again. Mom wasn’t... strong enough.”

"So you ran away." Tobio added in a low voice and Hinata nodded.

“I ran away.”

"That's why there's no more news in the papers. Everyone just says you were taken to the police station.” Tobio moistened his lips. Hinata nodded once more.

"I lived on the street for a while until I found Kenma. He was the one who taught me what I know and who welcomed me. He didn’t recognize me at the time, and I... I also lied about my name. I never came back. I don’t... I don’t have the guts for it.”

Tobio sighed.

“I’m sor- “

"No." Hinata cut him and then forced a smile. "You told me your story, and I told you mine. I’m a monster who murdered my own father cold blooded in front of my family and you’re a rebel who abandoned your parents and was left alone in the big city because you loved the wrong person. No pity. From neither of us.”

Hinata reached out for him and held his gaze with a smile that Tobio found impressive, even more so after telling all that. He knew that Hinata was strong, but maybe his huge strength was only more height for him to fall. Tobio forced an equal smile and squeezed his hand.

“No pity.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Kageyama-kun!” He heard Sugawara's voice calling him from the back of the shop and lifted his head from the vase he was arranging. "Your personal order has arrived!"

For a brief moment, Tobio had to think about what the hell Sugawara was talking about. He hadn’t bought anything recently, and even if he had, he wouldn’t have delivered to the backs, because that was where the discharge of new products and newly purchased items occurred. He passed a list of things he’d asked the store's distributor last month when a 'snap' echoed in his head, and he couldn’t help but face-palming himself.

“Just a second!” He shouted over his shoulder and removed his apron from the shop, leaving it on the bench behind the counter. How could he forget that? Well, he had asked for it last month anyway, it was obvious that he would eventually forget. The shop's movement was large enough that he couldn't remember anything smaller like that.

As he pushed the door back and went out in the back, the first thing he noticed was the huge silver truck parked. Ink Oz's Kuroo was helping Sugawara down boxes and more boxes of daisies with an erased cigarette in his mouth, looking like he was gonna something else, mmaybe sell drugs, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got stuck.

“Kuroo-san.” He greeted him. The dark haired man nodded and smiled. He and the boys become good friends after all the mess with Hinata last month, as if thanks to him they had the opportunity to meet a fantastic guy, which was true. Sugawara stood, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his blouse. As soon as Tobio looked at him, he indicated a box with few holes. Tobio needed to get back into the store as fast as he could, so he put the box under his arm and came back, leaving the two boys with heavy duty.

As he entered, he set the box on the balcon and opened it. Inside there was nothing that could catch anyone's attention, only a few slightly large bags with seedlings, things that definitely shouldn’t be planted indoors. He had talked to Kenma and Kuroo about it and they confirmed that they had backyard. Tobio had asked them to remain silent about it, and apparently it was working, because Hinata hadn’t said a word about it.

Not that he and Hinata were talking all the time. They were kinda ignoring each other since now they knew everything about their past lives. With a smile, Tobio pulled a seedling out of the box and set it on the counter. At most, some green leaves sprouted out of the dirt, but no more.

It took Tobio at least an hour to prepare a large pot where they could plant at least one seedling to trim and keep it on control. It was the time it took for Sugawara to finish and to get practically dead back to the shop.

"Next time, I'll have the delivery man to do the service. My back is killing me.” He said as he pulled the apron back on. “What you’re doing? Are you preparing the vase? It’ll be tricky to get them to grow in here.”

“I know, but I did my research.” Tobio said “We can trim it and keep it small, you know? So we can always sell flowers from the same small tree. I'm sure some brides will find it romantic enough to spend a fortune.” He said as he lowered the seedling into the dirt and covered it with his hands. "That will cover the expenses."

“I imagine.” Sugawara said smiling. "What did you say they’re called again?"

Tobio smiled.

“Blue Sakura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! xx


	9. How dangerous, finally having something worth losing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, but Angel why do you keep hurting people you love so much?  
> Because I'm weak for angst, guys. Sorry. Wish I could give you something important to think about it, but there isn't it. I just like hearing my fingers cry.

For the first time in a long time, Tobio was feeling anxious. Since he'd discovered that he and Hinata, or Red at that time, were going to share the same classroom, college had become a light torture and he couldn’t wait to go home, but little by little the boy eventually took his place, and now in their lunchtime, where they could sit together and talk about whatever happened was a proper reward.

The semester was running out and the rest of the people was in pure despair with the exams, but both of them were chilling with no need to study, since their grades exceeded the teachers' expectations. Also because Hinata would rather die before entering the library and read a book in silence.

This lunch was slightly more special than the others. For the last month, since Tobio and Hinata had rekindled their friendship, they talked a lot about each other. Tobio told him what it was like to live in a house where culture seemed to come from the last century, and he described every little detail of Miyagi he could remember. Hinata had lived in a remote part, but still in Tokyo, so for him the simple idea of using a bicycle to cross the mountain and study inconceivable disaster.

Hinata had also given Tobio precious details about his life. He once had a cat named Olivia, who ran away when he was four. Three years later she appeared as if nothing had happened. He told Tobio more about his mother, how she had always been a kind woman, and who definitely didn’t deserve to have a husband like his dad or a son like him. (Hinata didn’t let Tobio stop him from saying these things.) He also talked about Natsu. Gods, how he talked about Natsu...

"Kageyama, you had to see, she was incredible!” he exclaimed smiling “The best of her class, but she was always stressed. One kid once mocked her because of her red hair and she kicked his ass! She was _three_ and I remember her screaming ‘Nii-chan's hair is not ugly!’ as if hers wasn’t the same color!” Hinata laughed after mocking hiis sister’s voice “Gods, Natsu was a pepper. I wonder if she’s tall? Probably not, damn genes.”

That was progress indeed, but he always spoke of her as if he'd never cross his sister's path again, and Tobio couldn’t exactly blame him. One day he questioned Hinata about it and in response he gained a sad look and a shy smile.

"You ran away from your parents so you wouldn’t have to listen things that were going to hurt, right? It's the same with her. But the difference is that you never get along with your old ones anyway, and Natsu has always been my favorite person. I could never stand her blaming me.” he'd said. “All I need to know, I already know.”

The days passed quickly, and soon Hinata's birthday arrived. Tobio already knew what he would give as present, and that was exactly why he was anxious. The present was nice and healthy, and would soon be on sale at the shop. They were forced to leave the Blue Sakura's vase in the back, since now Hinata and Tobio were friends, he would come in to talk to the brunette at least once a day, until they heard someone pounding the wall on the other side, and Hinata came running back.

“’Ka-ge-ya-ma!” Hinata hummed as he sat down next to him at the empty table. This was something that didn’t change, it would probably always be just the two of them.

"What do you want, apparition?" Tobio teased smiling at him and the redhead smiled back. That was a bonus. Hinata looked like a entirely different person from when he'd first met him, like Red. Yes, he was rude and smarmy, and if you ever stepped on his foot he will probably break one of your fingers, but that was the reason Tobio was here: to pull him back by the hair and control the fierce beast. Tobio was the only one out there who could play with him, not couting the boys from Heaven's and Ink Oz. And Yachi, yeah, Yachi could, too, but it wasn’t like Tobio.

"Aren’t you going to tell me anything?" He asked sarcastically. Tobio blinked. "I woke up late, I was schooled by the teacher _because_ I got here late as well, people have been talking behind my back all day and you're not gonna say anything.”

"There's nothing special about today.” Tobio said trying to keep his features serious, and failing miserably. Hinata folded his hands on the table and leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.

“I know you know.”

"Happy birthday, dumbass," Tobio said, leaning back in his chair. Hinata seemed pleased with himself, and as he bit down the banana he had picked up from the cafeteria, Tobio had to swallow hard. Well, like their friendship, some things have evolved as well. Not that they were aware of it, Hinata probably considered that kiss an accident, but Tobio had to admit that... some nights were a lot more complicated than others. “I'm gonna... I'm... I'll go grab a dick -a _chicken!_ A chicken!” He corrected himself and stood quickly from the table, walking away without looking back as he felt the redness rising up his neck. He wasn’t exaclty in the mood for chicken, but now he would have to get the damn chicken. Screw Hinata with his perfect mouth. _No, Tobio, don’t go that way, you’re on public..._

He waited in line and made the request, still avoiding looking back to where Hinata was probably still convulsing with laughter.

“Oi, you there. Oi, I'm talking to you.” Tobio felt someone nudge him on the back and then turned with his face furrowed, ready to question why when he suddendly faced a guy probably a head taller than him, accompanied by a chubby little boy who laughed like a mouse.

“What?” Tobio asked, looking at the guy from head to toe. He looked like an athlete of something, but he wasn’t strong enough to be on the football team. The boy smiled, showing a few crooked teeth and Tobio felt a shiver run down his spine. That wasn’t good.

"Is it true you're with that murderer?" He asked so directly that Tobio raised his eyebrows. Although iit was rude, it was unusual for people to not know that he and Hinata walked together and even more come to question it in their faces.

"He's no murderer." Tobio said, and tried again to pay attention in the line, but a hand grabbed his arm and with more strenght than he imagined the guy possessed, he turned him face to face.

“Yes he is.” he whistled “My parents will get me out of this college because they discovered he studies here. If he decided to fuck his life, why should _I_ get screwed, huh?” He shook Tobio lightly and he could feel the bruises forming under his fingers on his pale skin. "And you protect him, so I think my business will have to be settled with..."

“With me.”

Tobio looked under the boy's arm and found Hinata standing with his arms folded. At this point, a small commotion began to gather around them. The boy didn’t let Tobio go, but looked over his shoulder.

"So you're the criminal bastard." He said with a grimace. Hinata didn’t seem to get upset about that, probably used to worse curses.

“Let him go.” He said, nodding Tobio with his chin. The people around them began quiet down to hear whatever was going on, which made the boy's grotesque chuckle heard loud and clear. His friend who was standing next to him laughed too, as if he needed his friend's permission to do so.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” He mocked.

"I've done it before, right? I don’t think it's gonna be hard." Hinata answered in a low voice. “Let Tobio go.”

Again with the first name. Tobio looked at his best friend, who didn’t even looked at him. Like a dog that was being forced to let go of it’s toy because the owner ordered it, the boy opened his fingers. Feeling the blood flowing again to that place, Tobio squeezed and stepped back to stay out of the boy's reach. He tried to say no to Hinata with his head but the redhead still didn’t looked at him.

“It's all your fault.” The boy growled.

“You're right.” Hinata replied mocking him “Thanks, buddy. But you’re some years late to inform me that.”

Before anybody could process the information, the boy's fist flew back and landed on Hinata's stomach, throwing him away. People began to scream and walk away, afraid of being hit. The boy wasted no time and knelt on the boy's torso, holding him by the collar of his blouse.

“Hinata!” Tobio screamed and tried to run, but hands grabbed him by the waist and held him in place, worried voices telling him not to go, and all he could do was watch as the boy lowered his fist again and again in his face.

Luckily, Hinata didn’t just barked. In a nimble move, he lifted his knee and hit the guy in the balls and then the positions switched with him struggling to keep his smaller body on top of the boy, like someone playing on a mechanical bull. When he finally did it, Hinata didn’t hesitate to punch down too, probably with his eyes closed since the blood dripping from his forehead was getting to his eyes.

“That’s nice, huh?” The boy scoffed. Punch. "Didn’t your father told anything about punches?" Punch. “Show your boyfriend who you really are then.” Punch. "My sister beats harder. How about yours?” _Punch_.

“He's gonna kill him, let me go!” Tobio begged and disengaged himself from the hands that held him in place. In only three steps he reached the center of the confusion and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist, lifting him from the ground more easily than he thought it was possible. Honestly, the boy needed to gain some weight.

"Talk about my sister again and I _finish_ you!" He yelled, kicking in the air, as the taller of them kept him in the air, so he wouldn’t get any impulse. Tobio felt his elbows and shoulders hiting him unconsciously on the side, wanting to let go. The chubby friend who accompanied the bully helped him to his feet, with a worried face, surprised that Hinata actually had the capacity to dominate a boy of his size. Tobio, differently, had full notion that in a moment of anger, Hinata would probably be able to hold down a bear.

“Hinata!” Tobio shouted as his arms tightened around him, trying to make the circulation stop before Hinata had enough strength to drag him along like a koala stuck on his back and go back into the fight. The only thing Tobio could see was a fistfull of orange hair mixed with blood. Again.

“Look how beautiful.” the bully said wiping his mouth with his sleeve and spitting some blood. “The boyfriend calms him down. That's one way to tame that beast.”

“Shut up!” Tobio begged when he felt Hinata try twice as hard to get loose.

"Is he really that bad? Looks like an angry pup to me.” the boy said getting to his feet with difficulty, his hand pressing on the kick he had taken. Tobio found slightly amusing how he just got his ass kicked but was trying to look like he won.

"Shut up or I swear I’ll let him go and let him turn you into dog food!" Tobio shouted over the noise. The boy didn’t said anything after that, and the only sound that could be heard was the grunts as Hinata tried to get to him. With a 'tsc' and a few shoves from his friend, the taller one started to leave the cafeteria.

“Take care of your little monster,” He whispered to Tobio as he walked away. “he bites.”

The brunette gritted his teeth and wrapped his arms better around the boy, who was still trying to break free. Tobio felt something warm running down his arm and he remembered that Hinata was bleeding. He sprouted into the hallway, looking for an empty room or something still holding Hinata off the ground. The first one he found was a cleaning cabinet, and he entered by pushing with his back.

He stayed the same position, still with Hinata up in the air, until the boy stopped kicking. After at least five minutes, when his legs softened beneath him and he was silent, Tobio opened his eyes.

"If I let you go, do you promise me that you won’t go back there?"

Silently the redhead nodded.

“Put me down.”

Hesitantly, Tobio lowered him until his feet touched the ground, but he didn’t undo the tie that still supported him by the waist. He couldn’t see his face, but he knew Hinata kept his head down.

"Don’t worry about what they say.” Tobio started in the softest tone he could get. "You should know by now that these things are going to happen and even though I want to go back there and help you hit him, it’ll only make things worse. The semester is almost over, and it's not right to be forced to stop and start again one more time.” He said and then paused. "That's what happened the first time you enrolled, didn’t it?"

Hinata didn’t answer.

"I don’t care if they talk about me, or about us, whatever. Let them speak. I'd rather have them talking about this than calling you names. It wasn’t right for him to put Natsu or your father into the argument. I'm sorry.” For a while, Tobio didn’t even knew what he was talking about, he just struggled to continue until he felt Hinata's muscles relaxing against his touch, and after a while, the redhead was more hugging him and leaning his head on his shoulder, using his body as a support.

Gradually, Tobio released Hinata's arms and sat him down in an old chair that was there, kneeling in front of him. Looking straight at the boy he could see the level of his injuries. He had a cut in the brow and cracked lip, and he could see that one of the eyes was beginning to swell, but otherwise, the fire that burned in his look was still there, as if at any moment could sparkle again. Tobio had to reming himself that Hinata was usually sweet with him, but he could be freaking dangerous.

“Come on.” Tobio said holding out his hand “I'll take you to the infirmary.”

In silence the boy reached out and Tobio pulled him.

The first obstacle was when he opened the closet door and found several students standing, trying to hear something. Most were frightened and had the decency to look guilty. Tobio put Hinata behind him and wrapped his arms around him before thinking, already expecting the boy to lose control again, but he was still looking down, not worrying about what was going on around him.

"The next person who makes fun of Hinata will have to deal with me.” Tobio said in a low tone. "Everyone here knows what he's been through. Does anyone here have a problem with him?" Silence answered him. “Now leave him alone, it's bad enough that he has to stand looking at all of you every day.” Tobio finished, pulling the boy forward, still holding hands and pushing him toward the infirmary.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Hinata-kun, this time I need to inform the director. I'm sorry. This is the third time this semester.” The nurse said with pity.

"They're not gonna expel him or something, will they?" Tobio asked as he watched the woman bandage the redhead's head carefully, letting the wicks fall loose on top. She gave him a shy smile.

“Maybe a suspension, but I don’t think they’ll kick him out. Students fight, it's okay.”

Hinata was silent all the time, and Tobio knew it was to keep worse from coming out of his mouth. He bit his lip as she wiped his knuckles with a damp cloth, but didn’t moved his hand, probably too used to that to care. Tobio didn’t blame him. All the people at that university knew what he was like, and yet they came up with claws and teeth. Obviously Hinata would attack, especially when the things he loved were at stake, like Natsu, his father maybe, and... and Tobio himself.

As he watched the cloth rise white and be lowered red, he felt a chill run down his spine. So this was how he should’ve felt then? Is this what people were talking about? How dangerous, finally having something worth losing.

After a few strips, cloths and more cloths, and discarded gazes, Hinata was released from the infirmary. The class schedule had resumed a long time ago, so Tobio led him back toward the room, still holding his hand. He didn’t know if Hinata was letting him do it because he liked the feeling or because he was afraid to run back, find the boy and finish what he started.

When he reached the door, Tobio stopped him from entering and received a confused look in return. He motioned for Hinata to wait there, and then quickly in silence he entered the room and headed for their backpacks. The few whispers that had previously resonated became the most complete silence, with everyone watching the boy, clearly already aware of what had happened. Tobio said nothing to anyone, simply picked up their bags and left the room again.

“We still have class.” Hinata said, this being the first thing since the fight.

"We don’t. That's enough for today. Come on.” Still with Hinata's backpack, he regained his place in his hand and pulled him out of the university. It was the first time Tobio was skipping in class, but Hinata didn’t even looked impressed.

The way to work was done in silence, and Hinata only let go of his hand as they neared the shops. He knew that Tobio had a small problem with public display of affection, so he didn’t force anything. Curiously, Tobio felt sad. He handed the backpack to Hinata, who looked up and scratched his head.

“I’m sorry” he said.

"Don’t be. It’s okay.”.

“I punched a guy.”

“I skipped class.” Tobio snapped. "And I took you as well, whether you wanted it or not."

Hinata cursed and then forced a sigh out.

"I'll probably be suspended."

"No problem," Tobio said, "As long as you come back to class by the end of the month so we can do our tests together, that's fine. Now, do you want to get your birthday present or not, dumbass?”

This seemed to distract Hinata from the event enough. He looked at Tobio and let a smile slip away.

"You didn’t had to get me anything.”

“Yes, I did. Come here.” He said, pushing him toward the flower shop.

As soon as he pushed the door, the bell warned everyone that new people had come in. Before Sugawara could receive the customer with his greeting, Tobio announced.

“I'm here, Sugawara-san.” He set his bag down near the counter and encouraged Hinata to do the same.

“Oh, hi!” Suga exclaimed with a smile, returning from the kitchen to the front of the shop. "You arrived early today, Kageyama-kun. And hi, Red, everything’s o- what the hell happened to you?!” Suga said passing the counter and approaching Hinata, stopping to look at the boy at the height of his eyes.

“I punched a guy.” He said a second time and Suga nodded.

“I can see that.”

Tobio was standing behind the redhead and nodded for Suga to leave it that way. Fortunately, he understood and gave Hinata a smile.

"I won’t tell Yachi, and I don’t think you should too. You know what she's like, she's probably gonna try to take you to the hospital, even if you already fine.” Hinata nodded, understanding the older man's point and gave him a shy smile. For a moment, Suga was so taken aback by that gesture that his eyes widened slightly and he hesitated to return the action.

“Come on.” Tobio indicated with his hand, pushing him to the back of the shop.

“Where is it?” Hinata asked as he walked through the kitchen door “As far as this is going, you could be taking me to a basement to chain me and let me die.”

“That would be nice.” Tobio teased, but before opening the doors to the back of the shop, where he and Suga had left the vase hidden, he covered Hinata's eyes with his hands. “Ready?”

The boy shrugged, but it didn’t stop his friend from staying in that position. With his elbow, Tobio opened the door, pushed him inside and turned on the lights. Only then he lowered his hands, resting them on the boy's shoulder.

If Hinata had any immediate reaction, he didn’t show it.

The Blue Sakura's that Tobio had planted last month was beginning to grow just now, and the few green leaves that were already appearing didn’t announced what they actually were, but since Hinata didn’t move a muscle, Tobio confirmed that he already knew what he was staring at. The vase was huge and wasn’t decorated, made of orange pottery, but it was large enough to support the small tree that sprouted there. Hinata took two steps forward and held a leaf on his fingertips silently.

“How did you get this?” He asked in a low voice and Tobio gulped.

"Heaven's recognized for having access to a lot of rare flower types, which is what Yachi-san wanted from the beginning. So we have some distributors who produce certain plants and flowers. I moved some chopsticks and... they sold me some seedlings.”

“Some?” Hinata asked, making Tobio break a small smile, still staring at the back of the boy's head.

“Some.” He nodded. "It's probably going to take a few more weeks to see the first flowers, since they bloom as soon as they reach maturity for the first time, but I'm taking care of it myself."

Hinata swallowed and looked at Tobio over his shoulders, startling the boy when he showed the warm features he kept whenever he talked about his sister and his childhood. Tobio usually called that his ‘happy face’.

"When..." he stammered "When it blossoms... would you... would you give me..."

“A branch? A flower?” Tobio suggested, then shook his head. "You don’t have to ask. This one is going for sale, but I already gave one to Kenma and Kuroo as well. They planted it in the yard, but since you're not sleeping there, you wouldn’t know. That's yours.”

“ _Mine?_ ” He asked turning to look at Tobio full-body and the dark-haired man nodded.

"Yes. Although you can come here whenever you want and of course you can have a flower."

The boy nodded, trying to block a smile.

"Well, I've got to get dressed and stand in front of the shop," Tobio said, scratching his head and trying to ignore the face that distracted him. "But feel free if you want to stay here or go to Ink Oz as well... no problem."

Hinata smiled and walked up to him, making Tobio's body freeze from head to toe. Up close he could see that his eye was beginning to swell, he would probably have a bruise and the cut on his lips looked painful. Not that Tobio was looking at his lips, of course not. The boy blinked at least twice before climbing on tiptoe and placing a small kiss on Tobio's cheek. He didn’t moved as Hinata returned to the floor again.

"Thank you, Tobio.“ He whispered. He returned to his starting place and pulled up a chair, silently warning that he would be there in the company of his memories. Tobio had to remember how to move his legs so he could go back to the shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you guys, thanks for reading. xx  
> Leave a comment/kudo if you liked! ♥


	10. Marking their love with a watercolor painting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAH you beautiful people, made me cry with some comments. Love you all so much, thanks for sticking up with me and this dumb story ♥
> 
> Have the chapter! This one its a good one, Momma promise!  
> I also changed the rate and some tags ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

When the bus parked in front of the gallery, Tobio felt his heart make a triple twist jump on his chest.

He was the one who suggested. After he told their professor about the gallery he’d visited when he was younger, the whole class wanted to go too, saying it would be nice to have an experience like that. In a few days, the excursion had been planned for the opening night for a new collection of the best-known local artist. It was relatively full, so they would probably be on their own.

That morning, both he and Hinata went to work, shifts switched so they could attend the night's visit. Lev kept talking all the time, which was a great since Tobio was feeling anxious. He spent most of the time exchanging texts with Hinata, scheduling what time they should leave and what he should wear. Should he go formal? Or casual, like any other student? Would he look weird? After Lev suggested him to wear a cosplay of some of the paintings, he stopped listening to the boy, and tried his hardest to keep calm.

When the time came, Tobio climbed up and switched to the clothing Hinata had suggested: a long-sleeved button down shirt and khaki pants. He didn’t even tried to do anything with his hair, he knew it wouldn’t work. He tossed his pack on his shoulder and left.

From the moment he'd found Hinata in front of the shop, he was avoiding looking at him. The boy wore a button-up shirt just like him, but his was black and with the sleeves folded, leaving some tattoos on display. His dark trousers gave no contrast, not that he needed it, thanks to the orange hair.

“Let's go.” He had said as he moved his mouth piercing. Tobio wanted to slap him.

The trip hadn’t been long, thanks to the gallery being in the center of Tokyo, and bus was silente during the whole trip, making Tobio bounce in his seat.

"Can we take a picture with him? I wonder what he’s like” He asked for the third time and Hinata laughed at his childishness without trying to stop him. They went down in pairs, and obviously the two ended up together. While the teacher gave a brief preview of what they would see that night, Hinata slipped away to get a map of the place.

“Chihiro Nara¹ brought us an exhibition involving pastel tones tellling the storry about his childhood. I suggest you all to pay attention to the feelings he used, what he wanted to tell, what he tried to hide, what he's trying to get you all to understand. You can discover all of this based on colors, shades, images, features and even scenery. Everything will be a small piece of the puzzle that will have to assemble at the end. Understood?” The professor finished, leaning on his cane as a ‘Yes!’ was heard out loud.

Hinata didn’t heard the whole thing, so as they waited in line, Tobio passed on what the teacher had told him and added new information as well.

“I know he's a guy who likes to use various styles, so I guess we have to take that into account too, for example... what style did he use when he was sad? And what about when he was happy?” Hinata nodded at everything he said, even though Tobio knew he wasn’t paying attention, he was doing it just so Tobio could talk about what he liked.

When the doors opened, the students waited for the entire VIP area to enter, then the media and finally the guests. Not that it mattered much, because if Tobio remembered well, exhibitions weren’t usually stationary, so they would have a good chance to see everything they wanted.

Just like the professor told them before eentering, they made the percurse in the order that Chihiro had left the works, and little by little Tobio really began to absorb what he believed to be a part of the story.

Tobio could feel Hinata staring at him more than he stared at the exhibition itself. For a moment he wanted to fight, saying that this was an incredible experience, but he knew this wasn’t what Hinata wanted for his future and that he was there probably just for the company. Meanwhile, his brown eyes followed as he made more and more notes to hand them to the teacher at the end of it all. For a moment he understood what Hinata meant when he said that he didn’t care if it was Tobio who looked at him.

Normally, he'd be embarrassed just to feel eyes piercing his head, but Hinata stared at him like a cat waiting for the prey to make some movement, not wanting to lose any move of that precious show.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Despite not giving a damn fuck about painting like Tobio, Hinata could understand where the boy's passion had come from. Although some arts were close to the abstract for him, the pictures were reallly beautiful. The whole exhibition emanated a soft color, making the crowd walk on silence and with warm smiles on their lips. Not just pictures, some items were exposed too, like an old canvas and some noob brushes that the painter had used when he was younger.

Hinata let Tobio do all the work, after all he seemed excited to finish by himself (and probably in first). The boy wrote desperately, as if he couldn’t miss a word. The professor was already expecting that, so when they reached the last frame, a silent hand reached out to Tobio, drawing a few startled glances. Hinata smiled as hisi friend placed the completed sheet in the professor's hand in silence, with both of their names. Tobio shrugged at him and Hinata laughed.

As soon as they were released, Hinata allowed himself to be guided.

"Did you pay attention to that?" Tobio asked, pointing to a picture that showed a ship flying in the rosy sky like a twilight. The name of the piece was _‘Romantic Flight’_ ². Hinata nodded (he had not paid attention) and let him talk. "Look how he made the clouds, I wonder what he used to get that tone..."

As the boy spoke, Hinata looked around, watching the flow of the display. There were more people than he had imagined, and for a moment he felt embarrassed to still show signs of the light purple bruise on his cheek from last week. Sometimes people didn’t notice, but it was difficult, considering how much people used to look at him. However, everyone here was focused on something else, things that they found to be more interesting than a bruised punk accompanying a prodigy. Hinata smiled and for a while, he felt himself at peace.

Dinner and snacks had just been served, so Hinata nudged Tobio a little, gaining a "hm?" response.

"Do you want something to drink?" He asked. Silence. Hinata waited for a response but Tobio didn’t even looked at him. "Ugh... I'll get you a beer." The boy made a sign with his hand without taking his eyes off the painting, and Hinata rolled his eyes. He could probably make the boy drink pickle juice and he wouldn’t notice, too focused on absorbing all he could on that paiting.

Hinata headed towards the bar, avoiding to cross ways with some other students. He waited as the waitress fitted several cups into the tray, ready to lift it over her shoulder. As soon as she did, Hinata motioned for her and pulled two glasses of amber liquid.

After two hours open, people were starting to crowd, and for a moment he got lost. Being small didn’t help with the task of finding his friend again, so he simply walked in the direction that he’d left Tobio drooling over the pictures, hoping to find him standing in the same place. As soon as he crossed the barrier of people, his eyes found the pale blue blouse of his companion, but stopped when he saw that he was accompanied.

Tobio was frozen in the same place, his mouth open without moving, which Hinata found strange considering that it was difficult to make him shut up that night. He could see that Tobio was opening and closing his hands as if he didn’t know what to do with them. Hinata had never seen the boy who was talking to him. He was nearly four inches taller than Tobio, which was surprisingly a lot for someone like Hinata. His glasses were partially hidden beneath the small blond locks that covered him close to his ears, and he seemed to be smiling.

Hinata felt a shiver run through him when he realized that this was a one-way conversation, and that Tobio would probably rathehr die than standing there. He struggled to take bigger steps.

"... I thought it would be the perfect opportunity, Tadashi had never been to an art show like this, and he'd always been curious.” He was saying.

Tobio swallowed hard and Hinata slowed. Tadashi. Where had he heard that name? The information came back to him like a slap. Tobio had told him that name when he had told about... about his past. Which meant that the one who was making Tobio step back was ...

"What are you doing here, Kei?" He managed to ask in a low voice and Hinata followed the conversation like a ping pong game.

The blonde shrugged and looked back at the paintings on the wall, as if Tobio wasn’t on his side trying to remember how to breathe.

"I saw the report on television and instantly knew you were coming. You've always been a fanatic about other people's work, so I thought I could jump right over here. After all, I have a message for you. Can you believe your mother called me? I must say that it wasn’t a call that I liked answering.” He looked bored and shrugged again. “I thought it was strange. She seemed to believe we were still together.” The blonde smiled cruelly. "You didn’t told her, did you, King?"

“Don’t call me like that.” Tobio cut, practically coming out of his trance and having to control his own voice to stay quiet. "It doesn’t matter if I told her or not. They are my parents, not yours.”

"Well, they didn’t look like anyone's parents to me.” Kei snorted and it was the last straw for Hinata, who finished walking until reaching them, and silently extended both drinks to Tobio, who quickly picked up before Hinata let go and let them reach the floor.

“That’s it for today.” He announced looking up, staring into the golden eyes that seemed to laugh silently at him.

"Wow, was that the best you could do?" Kei pointed at Hinata as he looked at Tobio. “I'm disappointed. Anyway, I still have a message to give, but I think you already know. _You can come home, we can talk and bla bla bla_ , she seemed sad sad, either way. I think I know why.” He said looking at Hinata again, who closed his eyes. He had to agree that the memories of Tobio's mother weren’t his favorites.

"You told her?" Tobio chirped back to Kei, who shrugged as if asking ‘what else would you want me to do?’. The brunette dropped his face into his hands and took a deep breath pushing his hair back. He knew he would have to talk to her at any moment, and facing that conversation wouldn’t be easy. Hinata rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, megane. Message passed, you can go home and hang your golden star on the blackboard.” Hinata waved his hand while pushing Tobio back. That wasn’t going to end good.

"Wild beast you found, King." He sneered again and Tobio seemed to come back to life once more.

" _Don’t_ call me King." He snapped. Hinata made a mental note to ask what the hell the nickname meant for Tobio to hate it so much. He was getting Tobio to take a few steps back when a new voice found them.

“Tsukki! Did you see the brushes on the shelf? They are the best, aren’t they? O-oh..." He stopped when he saw what was happening, absorbing the scene in front of him. Kei had his hands in hiis pockets, trying to hide a fake smile, and Hinata was pushing an unresponsive Tobio back. “Kageyama... h-hi.”

Hinata supposed he was Tadashi. The boy had dark, longer hair, similar to Hinata's, but straight. A small wick fell in front of his eyes, dragging more attention to his sweet face, as if the freckles didn’t do all the work. The boy seemed to be a nice person, probably someone who wouldn’t want to do any harm. He stepped forward in silent steps and pulled his boyfriend by the sleeve of his shirt.

"Tsukki, you said you wouldn’t come after him.” He seemed annoyed with the attitude, but not jealous. ”Leave him alone, come on.”

"But I just came in to give him a message.” He looked at the boy and smiled, still holding the false impression of a gentle person. Hinata wanted to make him swallow all of his own teeths.

“Oh, shut up!” Hinata exclaimed drawing everyone's attention there, as if they only realized that he was in the middle of the confusion at that moment. “Everyone here knows you’re a douchebag, even your damn boyfriend, so leave Tobio alone, you fuckhole.” Hinata was really trying to control himself, his injuries was still healing and he didn’t wanna another set of them by pushing Tobios’s ex face on the wall.

Kei looked surprised by the attitude and raised his eyebrows, though Tadashi was pulling his sleeve harder. Hinata gave a point to the boy.

“I don’t understand. I'm doing a good thing here. Tobio wanted to know about his parents, didn’t he? He had always been against leaving them that way.” he whispered to Tadashi laughing, and the boy didn’t seem to enjoy the atitude. Actually he looked scared.

Hinata felt Tobio flinching behind him and that was the last straw.

Without really turning his body, he took one of the glasses from Tobio’s hand and didn’t even hesitated before throwing the whole thing into the blond’s face.

The nearest people gasped and stepped away, trying not to get dirty, but Kei had only had time to close his eyes. His hair was dripping now, the strands stucked into his face.

“Tsukki!” Tadashi whined in a shrill voice and tried even harder to pull him back. Hinata was quick to take the other glass from Tobio's hand, mildly disappointed to be wasting his drink.

"If you don’t get your stupid beampole out of here, the next one I’ll make sure to get both of you." He threatened raising the glass higher, so Tadashi could see that it wasn’t a vain threat. The boy bit his lip and finally pulled Kei's arm, getting him out of the way.

"Tsukki, come on, come on, leave him alone. You _promised_.” This time he seemed heard and obeyed, not a single signo f a smile on his lips. As they disappeared through the bathroom doors, Hinata drank the glass he was holding in a single take and set it on the empty counter, wiping his hands on the edge of his pants.

“That was fun.” He said sarcastically and turned to look at Tobio worried. The boy still stared at the situation with his mouth open in shock.

"I can’t believe you threw vodka at him!" Tobio gasped.

"Don’t disappoint me Tobio, it was beer." Hinata rolled his eyes, disgust replacing worry.

“I don’t think so.”’

“It was amber, it was beer!”

“It smelled like vodka!”

“It smelled like alcohol, you peasant!” Tobio closed his mouth and kept silent, still staring at the liquid on the floor as some officials came running to clean. Hinata looked up, concern returning with force. “Are you alright?”

The simple fact that Hinata asking him that made Tobio's eyes brighter with unshed tears. Hinata waited to see what would happen, but the boy took a deep breath and composed himself, then nodded. He knew that Tobio really was over Kei, but finding him after everything that happened and still get a message from his parents wasn’t supposed to be the easiest thing in the world.

"Come on," Hinata said. "I'll take you home."

Tobio nodded in silence and let Hinata push him toward the exit. Hinata couldn’t help but feel sad about the ruined night.

“Wait!” a voice called them and they both turned to see Tadashi running back to them, this time alone. Hinata frowned and took a step to stand in Tobio’s way. The boy stopped the race and raised his hands asking Hinata to stay calm. "I came to apologize for Kei.” He said before bending down, keeping his torso parallel to the ground. "I'm sorry, Kageyama-kun. He told me that we might come across you tonight but that he had no business to deal with you and wouldn’t disturb you. He disappeared when I wasn’t paying attention.”

"It's all right, Yamaguchi.” Tobio said raising his hand, still looking a bit shaken. "You can go back inside, we're going home already."

The dark haired man stood up and Hinata saw that he really looked regretful, not just about that night, as if the weight of the guilt he carried was creeping for a while as he looked into Tobio's eyes. He nodded, and knowing that this wasn’t his place, returned with light steps.

“Bunch of jerks, all of them.” Hinata growled.

"Tadashi isn’t a bad person.” Tobio corrected him. "And to be honest, he's probably the only one who can stand Kei without any hard feelings.”

“Like I care.” Hinata shrugged, then pushed Tobio towards the bus stop. They waited in silence and neither of them spoke at all. When it finally arrived and they climbed on, Hinata let his hand slip into Tobio's, who just squeezed his back. They didn’t let go all the way back home.

The street was quiet as they got down and stayed that way, the only sound being their footsteps as they walked along still holding hands. Hinata didn’t tried to let go, but even if he did, Tobio would’t let it. It was basically the only thing keeping him connected with reality while his mind was traveling to other places.

Kei was a good person, he knew that. Just like he knew they had broken their relationship into a Thousand pieces in that huge fight when Tobio confessed that he already knew about the affair with Yamaguchi. They had met before, and Tobio knew Yamaguchi was a good boy, but the pain of betrayal was huge and he couldn’t sstop thinking: ‘you brought me here just to ruin my life.’

“Tobio?” Hinata called. The first name was coming more and more from the boy's mouth naturally. “Can I ask you a question?”

Tobio nodded and Hinata stared ahead.

"Why did he called you ‘King’?

Tobio knew that Hinata would ask this at some point, so the answer was already done.

"My father used to call me King," he said, and Hinata stopped walking, forcing the two to stand on the sidewalk in the dark. "He called me King since I was born, and Kei always mocked that.

“Do you like it?” Hinata asked hesitantly and Tobio shook his head.

“Not anymore.”

Hinata nodded and walked again, still pulling Tobio by the hand until they reached the point where their two shops shared land. He didn’t want to leave Tobio alone, to be honest. When he needed someone to cry on, Tobio was there, even though he didn’t want to. He had to do something, so Tobio’s mind wouldn’t be stuck on that night.

“Can I enter?” Hinata asked as they stood in front of Heaven's.

"Asking didn’t stop you last time.” Tobio scoffed, but he still let go of Hinata's hand to open the door and sign at the staircase to the second floor. Hinata silently crossed the small hallway, letting his fingers run through the door of the cold chamber where he knew they were keeping the roses. Tobio followed him in silence and opened the door of the apartment, letting him in.

Hinata hadn’t been there since that day, and few things was different. The bed was messy and his drawing desk was full with several pots of paint still open, half-watercolor paintings waiting to dry completely. He had brushes in some glasses with a water, waiting for the paint to loosen completely so he could wash them. This time the apartment looked sad without the smell of coffee or the sound of both shouting at each other.

Tobio dropped the key on the counter and leaned against the door, closing his eyes and trying to keep everything inside. Hinata went back a few steps to face the boy.

"I'm sorry that asshole ruined your night." Tobio nodded and closed his eyes harder. Before Hinata realized what was happening, he saw his own hand rising and resting at the junction of Tobio’s jaw, and in a imperceptible move, the boy rested on his touch. Hinata's heart was beating like a drum in his chest, and before he lost his mind, he mirrored the other hand on the other side. "Let me do this... I can make you forget that."

Tobio lowered his head, avoiding looking at him.

"I can’t use you like this." He answered in a whisper.

"Let me help you then." He countered. Deep down, Hinata knew that this was a nut excuse for what he really wanted and had been trying to avoid, but Kei coming up and crushing Tobio like that was the last drop of courage he needed. Before Tobio could talk again, he tiptoed and closed his lips together.

He felt Tobio sigh more than he heard. The hands that were fallen before him now held him by the hips, and Tobio slowly pulled him to join their bodies. Hinata knew that Tobio was a master of loosing self control, so he forced the limits by pushing one leg in the middle of his and rolling his hips. The brunette let out a groan, still with their mouths together and before Hinata realized he was being pushed back.

He felt the counter squeeze him in the back, but Tobio sat him up without even warning, like he was a weighless child. The hands that held him in the waistband of his trousers went down slowly, scraping down his thighs and putting them around his own hips.

The first kiss they'd shared had been warm, like a fireplace on a cold night that would warm a family. This one looked like the explosion of a volcano. Hinata knew it should hurt how much he was pulling the hair at the base of Tobio's neck, but he couldn’t control his fingers anymore, and he needed to hold onto _something_. Tobio put his hands under the boy's t-shirt, letting his fingertips draw his ribs. The contrast of the icy hand with his boiling skin made Hinata throw his head back to catch his breath. Tobio took the cue to worship his neck with kisses and a part of him warned that maybe he should wear a turtleneck tomorrow.

Hinata felt his hand go up, and without patience to unbutton Tobio's clothes he pulled it over his head, the two of them pulling apart only for a moment. At least Tobio was a little bit more conscious, and his fingers undid the buttons of his black shirt in seconds, pushing it back from his shoulders. For a moment Tobio stepped back and let his vision swallow the boy sitting in front of him.

He remembered thinking that night that Hinata was beautiful, but _that_ was something out of the ordinary. He’d told him already, but more drawings covered his chest, contrasting with the pale skin of his belly. The bastard had a nipple piercing too, oh well...

With a groan, Tobio foccused on trying to avoid that one. Piercings were a weakness. He drew the kisses back until reaching the small black ring on his lips and then moved with his tongue, causing Hinata to utter a sound so sweet that he realized that he could stay there all night. _Who was that boy!?_

The redhead was falling apart with his head thrown back, leaning on one of Tobio's hands that had curls curled around his fingers, surprisingly softer than he'd imagined. Hinata was trying to breathe, to force the oxygen in and out to keep him alive, assuming he could still draw air in, not fire. As Tobio kissed him, he felt his hands go down and hold him under his thighs, and then the top of the bench below him disappeared. He’d always hated being hold up in the air, it made him remember how small he was, but at that moment he couldn’t care less.

Hinata felt a volume pushing him in the right place and felt his hips rolling without permission. Tobio groaned at his neck and began to walk.

He was shoved against the wall brutally and he would probably have felt some pain if he wasn’t on the fucking moon, but before he fell he realized he was being seated on some platform, which he soon recognized as the drawing table.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry." Tobio moaned as the boy's head hit the wall, but Hinata ignored him. Hands hurriedly grabbed him by the shoulders, heat to heat, and pulled him to himself even more, unconsciously trying to merge both of their bodies into the same space.

"Don’t stop." He begged.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Tobio managed to speak with sobs, his mouth still occupied with leaving marks on the boy's neck, inevitably following the lines of the tattoo. Hinata felt himself nod and Tobio continued.

After he was sure Hinata wouldn’t fall and the table would hold him, he let his hands return to the boy's smaller body, running his skin with his fingertips and causing shivers. Slightly Hinata realized that the touch was wetter and cold, different than before. In a sudden self-control, he opened his eyes and noticed that Tobio had accidentally rested his hands on the paints, and now his own body was a mess with different colors running through his abs and ribs.

"Paint me like one of your french girls," he sneered and Tobio bit his jaw, grunting.

“Shut up.” He snapped and Hinata laughed. The smile faded from his face the moment he felt Tobio’s hands pressing exactly over the tent in his pants, realizing only then that he was as hard as Tobio, maybe more. His mouth molded into an ‘o’ and Tobio didn’t take long to undo the button of his pants, opening it as hard as he could without pulling it off. “I don’t think I can stop this...” he cried.

"Maybe I don’t want you to..." Hinata found the strength to answer. Tobio cupped his groin through the thin fabric of the boxers and before a sound could escape, he covered his mouth with one hand, still using the other to cling to Tobio's shoulders. As soon as he could take a deep breath and make sure he wouldn’t moan anything, he let his mouth go, but held his hand on his own lips. Tobio had other plans, though. He used one hand to take Hinata's hand out of his mouth as if it was a forbidden action and then rested his forehead against his.

“Can you fucking stop playing with that damn piercing!? It distracts me.” Tobio gave him a light kiss and returned to work, using one hand to cup him and another to keep his wrist stuck against the wall above his head.

Hinata felt his pants disappear, probably as stained with paint as he was, which was good in some waiys because at leadt Tobio's hands were sort of clean now, and then he was only with his underwear. Tobio's wide trousers that had just been tucked into his waist only needed an incentive to go down the floor as well, an incentive that Hinata was more than happy to grant by using his heels on the boy's back. He let them linger against the curve of his ass, and as soon as the fabric slid to his knees, he pulled Tobio forward, forcing their bodies to fit even over his clothes.

Tobio was trying to find strength to not fall apart. He had never felt anything like this when he was with... No. It wasn’t time for that. This was Hinata. _Red_. It was Hinata in his arms, making him lose every drop of control and self-love he carried. Everything attracted his attention like a magnet, from the boy's warmth to the strenght of his thighs wrapped around his waist, from the dark lines on his arms to the softess curl of his hair.

Tobio hesitated for a brief moment before continuing. He knew what to do, he’d done it beforehand, but Hinata seemed to be a bucket of pure water to someone who's survived with raindrops. The redhead caught his breath as he felt his hand slip into the elastic.

Hinata had to let go of Tobio's shoulder and hold into the table, also feeling his hand make a little mess with the paints spilled. His other wrist was still stuck against the wall, and Tobio didn’t look like he was gonna remember to let go. Hinata would apologize later, but he ran his hand over the top of the table, throwing all the papers and unfinished work on the floor to find a piece of wood where he could hold himself. Tobio didn’t seem to care.

Honestly, he could stand there doing nothing that would be enough. His hardness seemed to scream for attention and Tobio was listening. Hinata didn’t keep his eyes open to understand what he was doing, he could only say that was extremely good, and that he could stay like that all night. No, that was a lie, he would propably last a few minutes before he asked for mercy.

Hinata didn’t notice when his right hand was released and just kept his arm raised, but Tobio used his other hand to go down, brushing Hinata's thighs to an uncharted place. He felt himself jump and Tobio stopped where he was.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely hoarse. "It's just my stupid body, I'm okay, I promise."

Tobio raised his drunken eyes at him and took a few seconds to move again. Well, if it served any comfort, Tobio knew what he was doing, unlike Hinata, and that was the only reason he wouldn’t argue between who would top and who would bottom tonight. Hinata closed his eyes and forced himself to relax, foccusing on the warm hand that rose and fell on his member. He felt Tobio searching for something in the desk drawer, but he didn’t realize what it was, too busy trying to keep himself conscious.

When the hand reached him again, it was clingy with something Hinata knew very well. He took a deep breath and when the scent hit him like a slap, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing.

“Strawberry flavored?” he asked.

"Shut the fuck up, oh my God..." Tobio muttered, resting his head between the curve of his neck. It was nice to hear him swearing like that, wich made Hinata smile. He struggled to remain in silent and let his body as relaxed as possible as Tobio began to stick his finger inside. “You're okay?” He asked in a low voice when Hinata’s body crunched down.

"Yeah..." Hinata sighed back, still with his eyes closed. “Feels weird tho.”

Tobio stood still for a moment, which Hinata silently thanked. It was a different sensation from anything else he had ever experienced, and he was putting all his trust in Tobio.

“Let me know when it's okay to start moving.” Tobio asked in a low tone and Hinata nodded.

“You can already, it's just weird, not painfull.” Hinata said up and Tobio nodded before he began to move. Until then, the only thing Hinata could get out of this was that he didn’t understand why the huge hype for something so... crude. The only sound that ran through the small apartment was Tobio's short breath, as if he was going through a worse ordeal than that, and the table creaking under Hinata's weight. He could feel the ring of muscle becoming less resilient as Tobio pushed in and out, gradually absorbing more and more, and as soon as Tobio realized that it was all right, he added a second one.

Hinata could feel it as he made his way through it, and he had to admit it wasn’t exactly the most comfortable thing, then without warning Tobio curled his finger up.

“ _Oh...!_ ”

Tobio stopped and then looked at Hinata smiling sheepishly, as if he knew exactly what he had done.

“Was that it?” He asked, but Hinata didn’t know what he was talking about. He only knew that something had fired an electric current through his body, strong enough to make his toes twitch. As Hinata was still wide-eyed without moving, trying to understand what had happened without answering, Tobio did it again. And there it was, the electric current. Hinata produced an unworthy sound and clung to Tobio again, as if he were the great cord that kept him in the world, leaving them the same while spreading the paint around his shoulders.

Tobio continued to abuse that little place until Hinata was a moaning mess in his arms, and then he withdrew his fingers and returned to look for something in the drawer in a hurry.

“If it's a condom you're looking for, I don’t need it.” Hinata sighed at him, pushing his hair back, the strands wet with sweat and green paint. Tobio nodded and closed the drawer with a thud. He stepped out of his boxers faster than he could pull Hinata's down, throwing it across the apartment.

For a brief moment, they looked at each other without doing anything, and it was a lifetime of feelings transmited. Trust, fun, loneliness, honesty, admiration, hope, old sadness, friendship, love, gratitude. With a silent agreement, Tobio pushed himself inside. Hinata wasn’t going to lie and say it didn’t hurt, his body was small to support something like that without any twinging, but the warm and lightly tanned arms wrapped around his waist, holding him there as they shared the same space.

"Oh God..." he heard Tobio sighing on his shoulder and then the sharp sensation of teeth marking his skin, more like a cry for help since he couldn’t move right away. Hinata controlled the sobbing in discomfort and focused once more on relaxing the body. As they stood still, Tobio realized exactly the moment the boy's body fitted him, and then pushed forward slightly. With no more hindrances in the way, he felt Hinata's hands rise up his shoulders trembling to his neck and the boy groaned.

Tobio kept one hand holding one leg around his waist so that the position would remain the same and the other leaning against the wall, preventing Hinata's body from colliding every time he pushed. The apartment was filled with sounds of bells, which later he would identify with moans that came out of the Hinata’s mouth with every movement. Hinata didn't even look like himself. What he held in his arms seemed the embodiment of an exotic treasure, a deity marked with stories of his battles in his skin.

If the fingers were good, Hinata didn’t know how to name this. The position that Tobio forced his body to stay was exactly inclined so that the same point of before was abused with each push. He didn’t know where else he was holding himself and he didn’t feel the table under him anymore, just Tobio. The warm body against his and all the frustration draining out of his pores, giving space to the most lovable feeling. How long could he last like that?

He could feel Tobio’s legs shaking below him and the paint spreading between them, marking their love with a watercolor painting.

“Tobio, I think... I’ll... I don’t think I can... _oh shit_...” he started to warn as soon as he felt a draw in his belly, and the boy pressed him further against the wall.

“It's okay, Shouyou.” He heard a husky voice respond and Tobio placed a muffled kiss on his jaw. “It's okay.”

"Say it again, _please_ " he cried.

“It's okay”

“My name”

Tobio lifted his head from his shoulders and rested his forehead against his, keeping his eyes connected while Hinata jumped off the edge of the cliff.

“ _Shouyou.”_

Tobio didn’t need much more than the his hair being pulled and to feel Hinata's body twitching to come as well. His legs wobbled to warn him that he had no more strength left, so before he knocked Hinata to the ground, he took him off the table and sat them on the ground, still inside, propping them against the wall.

After that, the apartment became quiet, with only the sounds of breathing trying to normalize. When Hinata felt his own body again, he realized he was sitting on the floor and his legs were throbbing still around Tobio’s waist. He was sticky, a mixture of sweat, cum and paint, and he was sitting on Tobio's lap, holding them with one arm on the wall and his head against his collarbone. The boy had a purple mark near his mouth and his eyes were smeared in orange and yellow. Hinata knew he was worse. He swallowed hard and brushed Tobio's hair from his face, letting a trail of blue.

“You're okay?” Tobio muttered as if he was talking with potato in his mouth and Hinata nodded.

“Yeah, I'm okay... I... I think we need a shower.”

Tobio nodded, looking the apartment to silence and staring at their mess. No one said anything. Well, until the table creaked and bent a leg, holding up for two seconds before smashing to the floor. They both laughed, unable to control themselves.

“You owe me a table.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAA this is my favorite chapter. I adore it. It was the first one I've wrote and idk, I smile when I read this anytime. I'm very happy with it, hope you guys liked too! 
> 
> ¹ Chihiro Nara it's a made up name, inspired by Chihiro Shimotami + Yoshitomo Nara, two japanese artists.  
> ² "Romantic Flight" it's a song written by John Powell for "How To Train Your Dragon", it was also inspired by the scene of the movie when the song plays.
> 
> ♦ Guys, I promise I'll answer to every single comment on this, I promise lol
> 
> And kEI MY BABY IM SORRY I'M MAKING YOU A DOUCHE IN THIS, I NEEDED A FONT OF ANGST YOU'RE THE BEST I ADORE YOU.


	11. Why didn’t you ever came back home?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys.
> 
> Huge things in this chapter. Sorry i suck it's so small, but impportant as f***!   
> Have a good reading!

“I don’t even know the difference between modern art and conceptual art anymore, my mind it’s just a bunch of random letters.” Tobio said throwing a booklet behind his shoulders and shrugging. Suga laughed and got up from where he was putting water on the daisies near the door.

"Stop it, you're a genius. You’ll know all the answers. It's normal to be worried, Kageyama-kun. That's why we study, but every time you get off work, Red is right on top of your heels.” Suga put his hand on his waist while smiling. Tobio blushed and turned away.

"We’re in the same class, it makes sense to study together." _You're clearly spend the last month doing other things_ , Tobio thought to himself. Suga shrugged and returned to watering the flowers.

"Either way, you two are smart and you’ll pass.”

The brunette took a deep breath and began to organize the orchid pots near the window. Fortunately, the days leading up to the end of the semester were coming and going as fast as they could. New customers every day, online orders, passionate husbands and old ladies who just needed something to color their house life.

Tobio was totally in love with the flower shop. He was always delighted in how colorful it could be and how welcoming the environment was. This time, unlike the beginning of the year when Tobio wasn’t that used to it, a white vase displayed a small tree of dry branches and blue flowers framing the front door. Any outsiders could see them from the street and they had to admit that it was one of the most sold flowers. Shouyou was a loyal customer. Even with his own tree in Kenma's backyard, where he now slept if he was on the mood, he would still enter their shop at least once a week to pick up more flowers and leave them on his studio’s room. He said he gave him inspiration.

Tobio smiled at the flowers. It was a great idea, and they had to explain to basically anyone who entered the store what they were.

Suga was whistling, keeping the shop harmonized by a bird's sound as Tobio took turns reading his books and arranging the flowers, sometimes both at the same time. Whenever a concept didn’t come instantly to his head he would sit in front of the computer and write it down.

Yachi was in the kitchen with his girlfriend, they were doing the financial accounts for that month and Kiyoko's creepy ball of fur, which she unfortunately carried everywhere was jumping between the shelves, gracefully not even touching any pots. The orange cat jumped onto the counter where Tobio was and began to push his pen out of it with his large paw.

“Whiskey, no.” Tobio ordered. The cat looked up at him and gave the last touch, throwing the pen to the floor. Tobio frowned. "You remind me of someone.” He grabbed the cat with one hand and pushed it towards the kitchen, closing the door on his butt and earning a annoyed _meow_ in return. Tobio got up to pick up the pen as the shop bell chimed.

Knowing that Suga was probably still busy, Tobio already announced the greeting while getting up.

“Ohayo! Welcome to Heaven's! My name is Kageyama and how can I..." his voice died as he got up and looked at the girl standing there. If Tobio had drank a little more coffee that morning, he would’ve said that he’d gone mad, but... the girl standing at the door was exactly like _him_.

She wore a flowered dress and sneakers, which Tobio thought was a terrible combination, but it didn’t looked weird. The orange hair was tied in braid over her shoulder and her brown eyes were looking delighted inside the store, specifically to a certain plant.

"H-hi..." she said, pointing to the vase he was admiring right before. "Excuse me, but... are these Blue Sakura's? I would recognize them anywhere!” she asked smiling. Tobio would’ve slapped himself to have any reaction, but he was in no condition to answer. Everything was just too much to absorb so suddenly, from the contrast of clean skin to the tattooed, the same shaggy orange hair and even the golden brown chocolate eyes exactly alike. She was staring at him, beginning to feel embarassed and still waiting for an answer, when an elbow from Suga took him out of that loop.

“The customer asked you something.” He hissed. "Answer."

Tobio swallowed and tried to say ‘yes’, but what came out of his mouth wasn’t an answer, but another question.

“Natsu?” he called. The girl seemed surprised he knew her name, even more calling her by the first one, but at the moment he couldn’t think. Suga raised an eyebrow, as surprised as her.

“Do you know each other?” Suga asked looking at them. The redhead shook her head in alarm, but Tobio stepped forward and lowered his head to face her. Closer, Natsu was even more similar to Shouyou. Pretty much the same light freckles, same mouth and nose shape and eyelashes as long as his. It was... disturbing,

“ _I_ know _you_.” He explained. "You... you're Shouyou's sister.”

At this point Suga's eyebrows shot up. Natsu’s face turned into shock. At the same time, Tobio realized the shit he’d done. Honestly he had to learn to control his mouth! Shouyou had told him what had happened that day, and also about his mother and sister’s reaction to it, and how terrified they were of what he had become. Bringing his name to the conversation would only make it worse! Natsu would probably panic and call the police!

“Oh shit.” He swore, ready to give a fake answer when herr lips trembled.

“Nii-chan?” She asked in a low voice. It was Tobio’s turn to raise his eyebrows. _Nii-chan?!_ He managed to shut up, but he couldn’t understand why she would use a loving nickname. If there was anyone in the world who had been betrayed by her own feelings for Shouyou, it was Natsu. She would only call him that if she still had feelings for him. Right?

The girl reached out, definitely unafraid of the taller boy in front of her and held him by the wrist, preventing him from going anywhere.

“Nii-chan?” she called again “Do you know Nii-chan?! Do you know where is he?” She asked, her voice rose and the flowers behind her were completely left behind. Tobio stretched his back and braced himself to protect his... his what? Wait, Shouyou wasn’t his! Well... not legally, but as he stared at the girl's reaction, he didn’t say anything. Just like her brother, Natsu's eyes were red instantly, as if at any point she might cry. But... no... that wasn’t fear. What the... what the hell was going on there?

When he recognized Natsu and accidentally announced that he and Shouyou knew each other, the reaction he expected was totally different from that. Fear, yes. Hate? Probably. Except that Natsu wasn’t showing any of that. In fact, she looked... sad. Miserable. And... homesick. Why would a girl who been through all of that was homesick of her brother, who was in fact, guilty? Unless she... unless... she never...

Oh...

Oh, _shit._

Tobio felt his eyes returning to the normal shape after they had almost jumped out of his face and he lowered his head, staring at the spot where Natsu held him there. Now it made sense. She was holding him because she wanted answers, because she _needed_ answers.

"You never..." Tobio whispered, making Natsu stop pulling his sleeve and Suga look at him. "You never hated him. Did you?”

“Hate him?” She gasped and Tobio tried not to pay attention to how she remembered the boy he was in love with, it was extremely disconcerting. “Why... why would I hate him?! Nii-chan... Nii-chan saved my life! But... no one knows where he's been for years, so please, sir.” She pulled the sleeve of his blouse again and bowed her head. "If you know him... if you know where... please tell me where my brother is. Please.”

Tobio let go of Natsu's hands and felt the shelf collide with his back as he took a few steps back. Suddenly it was too much. The girl who was crying in front of him with her head bowed reminded him of Shouyou, leaning on his cpunter telling him every detail of the afternoon when he had murdered his own father to save the rest of his family.

_It was right there that hit me that I had become the monster that I had just saved them._

Tobio put his hand over his mouth, and the image of Shouyou crying in his apartment invaded him again. For all these years, Shouyou understood everything wrong. Yes, they were scared, but... it wasn’t of him. It was never were, and probably the fact that their mother protected his sister was instinct, but they never... they never blamed him, quite the contrary. Shouyou was the hero.

“Kageyama-kun!” Suga held him and put him on his feet again. He looked worried, but he didn’t know what to do. Should he shake off the employee who was getting into shock? The customer who was crying at the door? Call Yachi?

"Please," the girl said curtly, "if you know where he is, I beg..."

“I know where he is.” Tobio whispered, looking up again. Natsu caught his gaze surprised, still with tears streaming down her face. Shouyou couldn’t know, no, he... he would run away again if he knew, even before Tobio tried to explain. He looked at the older boy who still held his weight. “Sugawara-san, please, I... can I... I need to do something...”

The boy nodded and got him to his feet, practically untying the apron from his back.

"I don’t need to know the story, but if she's Red's sister you need to do something, I guess.” He said with a sigh. "Come back as soon as you can, and give me news. You owe me!”

The brunette nodded and then looked at Natsu again. She looked anxious, not knowing what would happen, but also apprehensive in fear of what Tobio could do.

“Come with me.” He said as he left the store and waved for her to follow.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

In the middle of all the loud and blaring music in his ears, Shouyou didn’t hear his phone ringing. The customer who was making faces at the chair was holding up well and he was too focused on finishing that horrible drawing she’d chosen. He had to admit, he was struggling to make it look good. He only noticed the ringing when the song was over and the silence reached them.

Making a bubble gum ball, he turned off the radio for a few seconds and pushed the chair back, giving a few seconds of relief to the girl.

"Red." He picked up the phone and held it with his shoulder, ready to go back to the original position and continue his work, but the breath that received him from the other side made him stop before a greeting reached him. “Tobio?” He asked worriedly and lowered the thing.

“Shouyou. Shit... I need you to meet me at the bakery now.”

“What bakery?” He asked, tossing the chewing gum away in the garbage.

“Asahi's bakery, oh my God, you're so stupid, we come here every single day!”

“Woah!” Shouyou exclaimed frowning and traced the girl's pale white skin again. "I didn’t answer this call to be attacked, Bakageyama!"

“Shouyou, NOW!” The voice on the other side screamed and he dropped his cell phone on the floor. With a sigh he took it back but saw that Tobio had already finished the call. He looked at the drawing once again and decided that Tobio wouldn’t scream at him for anything (at least not anymore) and that was horrible anyway. A week would be good to give him new ideas on how to fix that shit. The girl seemed happy to be dismissed and he hurried down the stairs, grabbing Kuroo's coat as he walked through the door.

“Red, you little thief!” He heard the owner of the jacket scream before the door closed and he giggled. The coat was too big for him, but his was upstairs and he didn’t like to go around with all the tattoos on display, especially if they went to Asahi's bakery. The boy looked like he was going to pee every time he came in through the door.

It wasn’t too far, only three blocks down from the shops. He didn’t know why the fuck Tobio had asked him to go there, instead of just finding him at Heaven's, but he was a peculiar kid.

As he was crossing the last street, he saw it. Tobio was pacing back and forth in front of the door biting his fingers, which was pretty odd even for him. Tobio took good care of his hands and nails, so biting them would be a crime. The frown was wrinkled and he looked worried. At least more worried than Shouyou had ever seen one day.

“Tobio. Hey.” He called as he approached him and the boy raised his head.

“Shouyou! Oh... oh God,” he replied, taking a few steps closer to the boy. Shouyou looked around quickly and upon confirming that they were out of sight everyone climbed on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. If that couldn’t calm Tobio down, nothing else could. It worked for a few seconds until the brunet pulled away, still as worried as before. This made Shouyou's protective instincts to fire up.

“What is it? What happened?” He said, pulling his hands out of his pockets and holding the boy by his waist.

Tobio held up his hands, begging for him to wait, and took a brief moment to gather the right words.

“Something happened. It's a good thing, I promise, but... I need you to trust me. Like... really trust me. ‘Trust me’ like ‘jump with your eyes closed’ kind of trust.” he said. Shouyou frowned but let him speak “It's gonna... it's gonna be okay.”

“You’re scaring me.” Shouyou whispered. That was something so rare, feel scared of something, but... Tobio always made his feelings flare up. He sighed again and held Shouyou’s face into his hands, forcing them to hold gazes.

“Trust me.”

He took a few seconds and his hands were getting cold, but he nodded. Tobio seemed to be trying to calm himself, but it was okay. If there was anyone in the world he trusted, it was Kageyama Tobio, no matter what.

Tobio took a deep breath before thrusting him by the shoulder into the bakery. Luckily, the place was empty. There was an elderly couple having lunch there, and a group of girls laughing and sipping milk shakes, but what really caught his attention like a magnet was the girl standing in front of the counter, staring at the door with tears streaming down his face.

The step back he took was instinctive, but he felt Tobio's body against his, the tip of his chin almost reaching the top of his head. He would recognize that girl anywhere, any age and any placee, but before she could say anything, he turned away, buried his face in Tobio's chest and shoved him back towards the door.

"No, please, please, Tobio... don’t do this, please. Let me go, you have to let me go.” He mumbled, preventing any part of him from showing off to his younger sister. He felt as Tobio rested his hands on his shoulders and his mouth on his hair.

“Trust me. Listen to what she has to say, please, Shouyou... listen to what she has to say.” He begged in a low voice.

“Nii-chan?” she asked. Listening to his voice was like a dagger piercing his heart exactly in the places he wanted them to remain dead. _Nii-chan._ That was how she called him when they played, when she woke him up screaming in his bed, when he went pick her out pof school everyday, when they played volleyball in the yard and also when she was scared. Nii-chan. That was _cruel_.

“Please don’t.” He said, this time raising his voice so that he would reach her.

He didn’t understand why Tobio above anyone else was setting this up. He should know more than anyone that there was nothing worse than being forced to face your past when you're not ready, damn it! He’d spent a shitty night last month thanks to stupid Tsukishima, and if it wasn’t for Shouyou everything would probably still be the same way. Forcing him to listen to Natsu was torture.

“No, Nii-chan! Please..." she asked. He couldn’t see her, his face hidden still trying to think of a way to get rid of Tobio, but she seemed to be trying to regain control. "Tobio-Nii told me everything.”

He tried not to think of the boy's betrayal, but Natsu kept talking.

"He told me, Nii-chan... how do you feel... no, no, h- how do you _think_ we feel... about you, but Nii-chan..." she whined. “You got it wrong, we... we never... we l-“

“Why are you doing this?” He asked, this time turning his body to face her. She didn’t look surprised by his piercings or tattoos, maybe Tobio had let her know that too. Looking at Natsu was more painful than hearing her voice. She had changed, no longer looked like a child, her face was less round and her hair longer, but... she was still exactly the same. If he focused a little, he could see the little girl he had held and played, and for a brief moment he felt sad that he had losted his sister's childhood. "No... don’t do that."

“Nii-chan, shut up!” She exclaimed stamping her foot, drawing everyone's attention in the bakery, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Asahi looking over the counter. Natsu was crying, but she seemed to be growing more and more angry. “You're an idiot!”

Shouyou's eyes widened. _That’s it. That's what I was expecting. That's what I've been running for years..._

"You're an idiot, Nii-chan!" She screamed again closing her eyes. “We never hated you, Tobio-Nii told me everything, he told me you ran away! _Ran away!_ Nii-chan, are you stupid!? Why did you ran away?” She took a deep breath “Mum and I never hated you, we looked for you everywhere, but... the police never found anything... Nii-chan, _stupid_ ” She held her breath and took a few firm steps towards Shouyou, who could no longer step back. Before he said anything, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.

Shouyou didn’t feel Tobio leave behind him, but when Natsu pulled him, they were alone.

What the fuck was happening. Shouyou couldn’t keep up with the trail of thoughts, and he didn’t raise his arms to hug his sister back, frozen there in place as she pressed him against her. It was completely different of when she jumped on his neck. It was heavier and she looked more angry than she had ever been with him, but... that... that whole thing... that wasn’t possible.

"We never hated you." she repeated again, in a voice so low that he only understood because her mouth was right above his ears. "Of course we were scared, I... I remember that day llike it was yesterday, but... Nii-chan, I was never afraid of you. You... you saved us. Tobio-Nii told me that you’ve been hating yourself, thinking you’re a monster, but you got it all wrong.”

“That day... was horrible. But you were the one saving us, and Dad was the one trying to... trying to... Nii-chan, I don’t... I can’t believe you’ve been sulking all these years by something you misunderstood. No one hated you, not me, not Mom, not even the cops! Our neighbours tried to look for you in the woods, in the city, we made posters, but... you never... You just... you ran away... ran away because you were scared too, but you got it all wrong! Mom and I... we looked for you everywhere! Why didn’t you ever _came back home?_ ”

The tears escaped his eyes before he could stop them, leaving only the trace on his face. He couldn’t feel his own legs and his arms were weak. His throat was sore like he’d been screaming for years, crying for help, but his brain was racing at full speed. Natsu wasn’t afraid. His mother wasn’t afraid. They... they looked for him? What was that? They wanted him back. And he...

Shouyou's mouth was dry, stopping him from saying anything, but he lowered his head to his sister's neck.

"What... what's going on?" Asahi's voice sounded so loud against the silence of the bakery, being accompanied only by the sobs of the two brothers.

“Family reunion. Long story.” Tobio replied.

Their voice made Shouyou come out of his marathon of thoughts and he opened his eyes, finding Natsu's fair skin and the edge of her dress. She had exactly the same scent as when she was a child. No. She _was_ exactly the same as when she was a child. Nothing never changed. He was just an idiot.

Pulling forces from somewhere he didn’t know it existed, he reached up and wrapped around her small waist, holding her there. She squeezed him too in answer.

"I'm sorry.” He stammered. “Natsu. I'm sorry." he cried, not caring who was watching the scene or if more people might need to come in since they were blocking the doorway “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I... sorry!”

It was Natsu who managed to get away from him first and support her brother's head under her chin, having to stand on tiptoe. Shouyou had never looked so much like a child like that moment, but as long as he wasn’t having a very cruel dream, he didn’t care. Natsu dragged them to a bakery table and sat him down beside her. She glanced briefly at Tobio, who didn’t need more words to nod.

“I'll be at Heaven's.”

Saying this, he left looking back, with shock on his face and a smile in his heart while he stared at the Hinata brothers finally reunited.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tobio only saw Shouyou again that night.

Throughout his shift, Suga kept silente, only asking a few questions here and there, not wanting to go too deeply into the boy's past, knowing that he didn’t like certain matters being talked about behind his back. Shouyou didn’t come back and Tobio started to worry. He left some text messages that didn’t received any answers, but hoped everything was okay.

Tobio was drying his hair with a towel after the shower when his apartment door opened and Shouyou stepped inside. He wasn’t even surprised. The fact that Shouyou knew to break into the flower shop was already known and he had left the door open. The boy was wearing the same huge jacket from that afternoon and his face was swollen, as if most of the day had been spent crying, which Tobio didn’t doubt it. He wiped his nose on his sweater and looked up at Tobio, sitting on the couch.

"Hi..." he said, lowering the towel on his shoulders. “How was it?”

Shouyou shrugged and walked to the sofa in Tobio's direction. He opened his arms for his lap and Tobio obeyed, positioning his legs firmly so he could snuggle the boy. Shouyou was light and small, it wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe to his psychological pride a few days later when he remember, but now was what he needed. Tobio put his arms around him and held him while the redhead fitted his head under his chin, hidind his face on his collarbones and put his legs up, nearly sitted.

“We talked. God, Tobio... I was so stupid.”

“No, you weren’t.” Tobio said, reaching up and down his back to calm him down. The boy was still staring at his hands without looking up. ‘I ran too. And who made me understand that it wasn’t stupid was you.”

“But I was.”

"Well, whatever.” Tobio shrugged and smiled. "One of us had to get the chance to fix the past. Right?” He hesitated. "I'm sorry to just throw you into the lion's cage, but... Natsu walked into the flower shop, and... I recognized her instantly. I let out that I knew you and when she called you ‘Nii-chan’ I knew... that you’ve wrong during all these years. I couldn’t just leave you live longing for her knowing that she loved you all these years, like you've never left.”

"It wasn’t all these years." Shouyou smiled “She said she hated me first, because I had left her behind. And because she had to do all the chores.”

Tobio smiled and waited for Shouyou to continue.

"She told me that life was difficult after that. But the neighborhood always helped them and after a while the story died. They moved, since they kept having nightmares about the house, so they went to a further part of Tokyo. Mom was afraid of me coming home and finding nothing, so Natsu said she made the entire street promise to give me the new address if I went back there. And... and Mom..." He bit his lip. "Natsu wants me to come home. Not definitely, just to tell her that I'm alive, at least.”

"Natsu won’t tell?"

"No. She wants me to do it."

Tobio played with his coat, resting his hands on Shouyou's hip.

"And do you wanna go back?"

He felt the boy shake in his lap, but waited to see what his answer would be. The redhead frowned at him.

“I'm scared.” He giggled. “Silly, isn’t it? I just found out that I threw all these years into the trash because of fear, but still... face my mother...”

“Mothers are a nightmare.” Tobio said leaning against the sofa and making Shouyou smile and nod. The redhead said nothing else, then Tobio reached up and took a few strands out of his eyes, drawing the boy's attention to him, as if nothing else existed around him. "I think you should go back." He tried. "Maybe not definitely, not yet, but... you're not the Red I've ever met," Tobio laughed, "and I know you love your family, even your father with all his problems. Having your sister back in your life, your mother... will do you good. And they’ll make you so happy... And they’ll be happy too. Natsu couldn’t believe you were here. And if you want..." he said pulling Shouyou’s hands to his “I'll go with you. For... moral support.”

The brown eyes held Tobio's in place as Shouyou assessed every word. He sighed before approaching and giving a kiss.

“I love you.” He sighed in Tobio's mouth, but there was no time to process that information, because Shouyou wrapped his legs around Tobio's waist and licked his lips, practically rolling his hips over his thighs. Damn it, Shouyou. Tobio answered the way they both wanted: wrapping him around the waist and throwing him down on the sofa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I've tried.  
> I've tried to make this chapter long as possible to give the feeling of the HUGE thing that happened, but this was to biggest I could do without ruining it.
> 
> This scene was the one who made me think about the whole story, I don't even remember what inspired me, what led me to it anymore.   
> Hope you guys liked! We're so close to the end, and I'm so happy I'm publishing this story.
> 
> Love you guys so much!


	12. As long as you’re here, I'm invincible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I'm a sappy, sorry guys haha  
> Thanks so much for the kind comments and kudos and hits, you're the best!  
> Here's another one! We're nearly the end of the story, and I'm happy. ♥

Hinata took a deep breath and stared at the huge house that led up the street. The walls were painted salmon and the curtains that danced on the wind out of the windows were white. Tobio squeezed his hand without saying a word and waited for the boy to gather the courage to walk through the flower garden and knock on the door.

Natsu had given him the address on the same day and begged him not to take it more than a week to go home, because she didn’t know if she could control herself. Since that afternoon, she'd spent all her free time inside Shouyou's tattoo studio, spending every second with her big brother, after all they really had a lot to talk about. He had decided to go by the morning, since Natsu wasn’t home, because even with his sister smiling each three seconds about it, he didn’t know how his mother would react.

Shouyou had packed for the weekend, just like Tobio. The tests would start on monday, which was a great excuse to go back home if things got complicated.

“Are you ready?” Tobio asked in a low voice, adjusting the strap of his bag on his back. "And what are you going to say about me? Because... you know, sometimes parents don’t accept their children's choices.” Tobio shot, thinking of himself.

Shouyou shrugged.

"It's not like you didn’t ran away from home to stay with whoever you wanted because your parents wouldn’t accept you."

"I'll suffocate you while you sleep."

Shouyou smiled but looked at him, still standing in front of the garden without taking any steps. It was strange to see Shouyou without the piercings on his face, a more childish image, but he thought it might be a little too much for his mother, so he thanked the gods it was cold and put as many layers of clothing he could find, hiding all the drawings on display. He looked like the child in the newspaper.

Again he took a deep breath and then let go of Tobio's hand and began to walk.

Once again, the redhead stopped in front of the door, his fist raised, but before he lost his nerve or let Tobio say anything, he knocked twice. Tobio had spent the last few days thinking about how Hinata's mother would be. He thought of his own, how similar they were. Dark and straight hair, blue eyes and a very logical mind. Would Hinata's mother have his height, energetic personality and would also be redheaded? He hoped no. It was already hard enough to have to look at Natsu every time and keep seeing her brother.

No voice warned them to wait while the woman was on her way, but the sound of small heels warned them to get ready and Tobio quickly rested his hand on the base of Shouyou's back, a last incentive of good luck and calm. They heard the door locks open and then there she was.

Tobio sent a brief thank-you to the heavens, cause she was completely different from Hinata. Her straight hair was cut short in a dark tone, and her eyes were slightly lighter than his. She was wearing homemade clothes, except for the earrings and the boots. Her hair was tied back with a handkerchief, preventing it from falling into her eyes and she looked at both of them.

“May I help you?” She asked. Yeah, maybe Shouyou was right about wearing a beanie too, keeping the orange wicks inside. The last time his mother had seen him he had thirteen years, and now he was older and different and... grown up. They had gone the whole travel planning what Shouyou was going to say, starting with "Hi Mom", but at that moment the boy didn’t said a word. Tobio noticed by the look in the woman’s face that Shouyou began to cry.

Tobio didn’t know what to say, much less how to start. ‘Hey miss, sorry to bother, I brought your lost son home! Have a good day!’. Tobio was expecting Shouyou to do something, or say something but he was in shock, so on a quick breath he pulled the beanie from his partner's head, letting the curls fall loose over his eyes. That was enough.

The lady opened her eyes and took a step back.

"No...” She waited and waited but Shouyou didn’t said anything else. “It can’t be you. You... you left, and... you never... you never... is... is that you?” She stammered. Tobio gave Shouyou a quick look and saw that the boy was trying to control himself. He put his hand on his back once more and Shouyou nodded still trying to breathe right. Tobio watched as the woman put a hand above her mouth and stared at them, like she was seeing a ghost. Maybe she was.

Shouyou never changed since he was a child, and the only difference he had added to his own body was covered for good. Tobio thought that seeiing him after all these years believing he was dead in a ditch could be scary, like having a nightmare, so he gave Shouyou a little pull on his jacket and the boy gave a deep shaky breath.

“Hi mom.” He whispered. Mrs. Hinata was still in the same position, but now she was crying too. Tobio made a mental note to make fun of Shouyou for crying that much, but for now he just watched.

He watched how she hesitantly gave a few steps foward and how shaky her hands were when she held her son’s face. Just like happened with Natsu, Shouyou didn’t moved, waiting for a explosion that never came. His mother smiled and finally put his arms around him, closing him into a tight embrace. He allowed himself to be hugged and Tobio tried to disctract himself of hearing all that sweet motherly talk, giving them at least some privacy. After a few minutes she let him go and held him by his cheeks.

“Where the hell were you!? Why didn’t you came home? Or called? We looked for you everywhere! Natsu cried forr so long! Where are you living? Are you studying? Working? Are you _okay?!”_

“Ouch, Ouch, okay, easy!” he complained and tried to get loose from her iron grip, mostly by reflex. As soon as he freed himself, he held her by the arms, keeping both of them at a safe distance. Up close, Tobio could see that they were really different, and wondered if maybe all the genes Shouyou and Natsu had were from their father. “I'm fine, and yes, of course, let's talk, but don’t kill me first!” He smiled at her and then nodded at Tobio behind him and moistened his lips. “This is Tobio. He was the one who told Natsu where I was. We're... friends.”

Tobio held back a laugh. He looked at the woman standing in front of her son and shot her a shy smile. She smiled back at himm and then finally abosrbed what the boy had had.

“Natsu!? She already knows!?” She exclaimed. Shouyou scratched his head as if he'd let out too much information, but he smiled.

"She was the one who persuaded me to come back and... and explained to me what had happened. It was...” he began explaining when he saw the look in his mother’s eyes “Don’t worry, I'll tell you everything, we... we have time. I..." He hesitated."I brought you a present.”

“A present? You’re the only thing...” she didn’t finished, because she was caught by surprise when Shouyou knelt, pulling the backpack into his lap. It had been Tobio's idea and Natsu had approved. The redhead took out a small box with a few holes made to enter oxigen, and them from inside of it a small pot of plan with just a few leaves showing. Like Natsu, and like Shouyou before her, he immediatly recognized what it was. She knelt beside him and took the vase out of his handss with her mouth in the shaope of an ‘o’. “Where... where did you found this? I've never seen anywhere, not after our old place. ... Shou, how you...?” She asked without taking her eyes off the small branches and leaves. Shouyou shrugged.

“Tobio works in a very good flower shop. He was the one who found it. That's what made Natsu find us.”

His mother smiled and left the molt on her knees before taking her son's hand and touch her own face with it. Tobio remembered a long time ago, when Shouyou had told him his story for the first time, where he had told him no matter how many times, he and Natsu loved to take Blue Sakura's flowers to their mom just to see her smile. He also remembered clearly of the intricate design on the boy's forearm, the exact replica of the flowers in a watercolor blue ink. She was looking fondly at her son when she nooticed something ins his knuckes.

“Shouyou...” she asked “Is this a tattoo?”

Tobio watched as Shouyou drew a long breath and smiled at his mother.

“We have a lot to talk about.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

They settled on the empty guest room. Tobio left Shouyou and his mother talking as he unpacked and finished both of their homework. He could hear a few bits from the conversation downstairs, how Shouyou had understood what happened, how scared he was, about his new life and how Natsu found them in a twist of fate.

The guest room was confortable enough to make someone feeel home. He wondered if that was planned believing that one day Shouyou could come home. Was that how the boy’s room should look like? Plain walls painted green and a large window? Maybe drawings and more designs for tattoos scattered on a mural and a mess of a shelf with the most diverse paints in the world, a sound box powerful enough to murder the neighbor's cat and black clothes everywhere. Tobio smiled.

Two rhythmic beats sounded in the doorway before it opened slightly. A red head went through the gap and whistled, catching the attention of the man who was packing the material.

"Dinner is almost ready. Mom asked to come down.”

Tobio smiled and closed the sketchbook, hiding sketches from a boy he was definitely ashamed to share, he stood up and pulled Shouyou into the room, leaning his body against the door and closing it behind him. Very different from when they met, Shouyou allowed himself to be manipulated and leaned against the wood smiling, raising his eyes to watch him.

“Are you okay?” Tobio asked. “You look...”

“Light? I feel light. As if the greatest weight in the world had been lifted from my shoulders.” Shouyou smiled and frowned. "I can’t believe how dumb I was.”

"We already discussed this," Tobio said, pushing him further against the door. "It's all settled now, and you don’t need to feel guilty anymore. You know that, right?”

“Besides the fact I killed my own father.” Shouyou argued.

"To save your mother’s and sister’s life. It was a cruel exchange, but still, I would be happier if you stopped seeing yourself as the huge enemy. It doesn’t matter that some people see you as the small tattooed punk bastard brat, you're actually the hero to them.” Tobio pointed down, indicating the woman downstairs. Shouyou raised an eyebrow with all the adjectives but didn’t interrupt. "You heard what Natsu said. And you definitely heard what your mother said. Listen to what I say, too.”

The boy waited thinking about Tobio’s words and smiled, standing on tiptoe to give him a brief kiss. The problem is that when you talk about Shouyou, things are never brief. He looked like an incubus, ready to make even the most holy man lose control. His small hands moved up his chest until they joined behind his neck, tipping him lower and forcing his body to rise, keeping them both level. Tobio moaned against his mouth and pushed him back against the door harder.

Shouyou disengaged himself from the kiss, tilting his head up and giving Tobio room to mark his neck and laughed.

"You don’t have a single drop of self- control!” He exclaimed in a low voice.

"And you're a nightmare." Tobio replied, but he didn’t move away and continued to kiss the boy's neck and jaw, loving the warm skin hidden beneath the scarf and the citrus taste. Shouyou used his hip to push them away from the door until Tobio felt the edge of the bed against his knee, making him sit down. The boy didn’’t gave him a second and was already on his lap, returning the attention.

“Wait, we can’t do this...” Tobio said a little breathless while it was Shouyou's turn on his neck “We are at your mother's house.”

"The first time we did that, we were in the attic of your flower shop.”

"Heaven's not _my_ flower shop." Shouyou shrugged and continued. "And other thing, you must be used to this kind of forbidden places, but I’m not.”

Shouyou froze in his lap and then lifted his face, looking closely at Tobio. The dark-haired man watched as he bit his lip and tried to foccus on what he would say instead of counting the small stars some ordinary people called freckles on his face. Freckles were for ordinary people, and Shouyou was all but ordinary. The boy looked away and shrugged.

“What is it?” he asked. With his thumb, Tobio began to make circular motions around Shouyou's waist, encouraging him to speak out loud. His cheeks were as red as his hair, but he managed.

"I'm not... I'm not used to these things, I mean... I... I'm still learning.” He replied and Tobio put his hands behind him on the bed, holding his weight as he watched Shouyou try to explain something.

“Sure.” he said sarcastically “You’re an angel. What now, you’ll try to convince me that the attic of a flower shop was the worst place you did something like that? You?”

Shouyou looked away again, hoping Tobio would guess where he wanted to go without actually having to say anything. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and sighed.

“Well, it was.”

Tobio laughed and took the fringe out of his eyes, thinking he might have to cut his hair when they returned to the capital. Shouyou was too embarrassed to say anything else, but it was a ridiculous topic. Tobio knew there must be far worse places than someone like Shouyou had enjoyed life, the flower shop couldn’t take the crown. Of course, in their relationship, it was the worst place, but it would only be the worst for Shouyou if he had only slept with Tob... wait up.

Tobio's smile disappeared, giving space to shock.

“ _No_... Don’t tell me you were... no, I didn’t... why... why didn’t _you say something!?_ " He grabbed Shouyou by the arms and shook. "Why didn’t you told me you were a virgin!? Oh God..." He took his hand to his hair as he remembered their first time, where Tobio had basically tossed Shouyou against the wall and fucked him on a table. "Oh my God, _Shouyou!"_ he screamed. The redhead seemed to find the conversation too embarrassing and was covering his ears.

“Shut the fuck up, damn it! Yes, I know, but I wasn’t going to tell you there, asshole!” He argued, and Tobio covered his face with his hands, feeling like a monster.

“Oh, God!” he exclaimed again “I'm _sorry_ , if I... If I knew I would’ve... er... I don’t know, I... wouldn’t used the _table?!”_ He exclaimed again and Shouyou laughed.

“Don’t worry idiot, it was... it was great, but shut up and never talk about it again. I still have a bit of dignity to keep.” Shouyou said covering Tobio's mouth with his hands, which still looked shocked. Probably they would’ve stayed like this for a long time, but a knock on the door made them both move quickly, arranging clothes and hair before Shouyou ran and opened it. Natsu stood still, still wearing her school uniform and smiling.

“You look like a tomato. What happened?” she asked trying not to laugh and he rolled his eyes. If it was any other person, Shouyou might have put up a fight, but... It was Natsu. “Mom said to come down. Dinner is ready.” She looked at Tobio and waved. The boy returned, casually trying to hide the redness of his face still remembering the past conversation.

“Okay. Tell her we're coming down.”

As soon as the girl left, Shouyou closed the door again and looked at Tobio. He raised a finger and pointed to his face, dignity and personality recovered.

"You'll never talk about it again."

"I'll never talk about it again." Tobio answered them both, trying to calm down once more. Shouyou said it was great, so... so fine. Avoiding talking about it, they both went down in silence.

Tobio ate mostly in silence, leaving the conversation at the table to the experts. All Hinatas seemed to know exactly what to do, as if they had lived together all this time. Shouyou made Natsu's plate, filling it with wasabi on top, as he knew she liked it, while their mother finished arranging the rice separated from the fish, just like how Shouyou usually ate. It was amazing to watch.

When they were eatingg they talked about both red heads. Natsu told them about her volleyball team and how close they were to wining nationals and Shouyou talked about his university.

"Our professsor is a ass, I mean..." he corrected when he saw his mother's eyes. "He's bossy. But it’s okay, he has a nice class. The whole university is nice... in parts.”

She nodded as she chewed.

"You're not getting into trouble, are you? I remember you being quite euphoric in kindergarten.” she looked at him suspiciously as if she knew the answer, and Shouyou had said no more lies, so he shrugged.

“Sometimes. People aren’t exactly lovely when it comes to me. Or Tobio.” He pointed to the boy with the chopstick. "But I don’t usually _start_ fights, I just finish them.”

His mother lowered her hand and looked at him worriedly.

"Please tell me you're not a delinquent."

The boy raised his hands like ‘sorry’. After afternoon he had taken off his coat, leaving the tattoos on display. His mother didn’t exactly liked, but she understood that they were now part of him and couldn’t erase them even with a knife. He’d left his body piercings for the time being, didn’t want to cause a heart attack. She sighed and went back to eating, but she had a smile on her lips.

"Tobio and I are in the same class, but we also work in shops side by side.” Shouyou explained as he finished chewing.

“That's great!” His mother laughed. "I'm glad to hear you have someone to control you, Shou! How long you’ve been friends?”

Shouyou lifted a finger, waiting as he finished swallowing the food before answering.

"We've been friends for five months, and boyfriends for one and a half."

Tobio choked on the sushi while Natsu let out a huge laugh and her mother stared at them in shock. Shouyou seemed to don’t understand the great commotion at the table and simply stretched a glass of water to Tobio. He hoped that he could drown on it, because it was the only use it would have.

“Easy, tiger.” Shouyou said. He foccused on stopping and trying to drink the water, avoiding any other coughing access. Natsu was wiping the tears from her eyes, as if she already knew and was just amused by the reactions. That was probably true and Tobio didn’t even wanted to know how the hell she figure it out.

"Oh..." Shouyou's mother said and looked at them both. For a moment the glimpse of a night hit again on Tobio's heart and he remembered the last time a dinner had been interrupted by that same subject. Shouyou seemed to understand, and held his knee under the table. But unlike the last time, the woman smiled. "I'm glad you had someone anyway. And Tobio-kun..." she said, bending her head to look better at the boy “You don’t need to be ashamed of it. You did so much for our family... I have no words to thank you.”

If Tobio could have turned redder, he would’ve. Even Natsu who was laughing seemed to be silent to demonstrate the seriousness of what her mother was saying.

"It was nothing." He stammered and Mrs. Hinata reached out and held his hand.

"You brought my son back. It was everything.” She corrected.

After they finished eating, each one left with a chore. As Mrs. Hinata washed the dishes, Natsu dried and the two were left to clean the table. Both girls seemed to be talking in the kitchen in a low voice, but Shouyou and Tobio were too busy having their little talk to pay attention.

"You know, you could’ve warned me.” Tobio snorted. "Actually, you could have warned me about a lot of things!"

Shouyou pointed the knife at him seriously.

"You said you weren’t gonna talk about it."

Tobio rolled his eyes and threw the cloth napkin on Shouyou, trying to make him shut up.

“Natsu already knew.” He said. Shouyou nodded but seemed curious, as if he didn’t know how either “I'm glad she... hasn’t been affected by it.”

"Not being a shithead, but being one anyway,” Shouyou turned to face him. "my family is very different from yours. Think of all of the bad things I could tell about me to my mom, since we haven’t seen each other for so long. I could tell her I’ve been trafficking drugs, getting girls pregnant just for fun and also about my full time serial-killer job. I thought dating someone of the same sex wouldn’t shock her that much. And I was right.”

Tobio sighed and began to collect the dishes.

“You're right. But give me a warning next time, I nearly died.”

“Drama queen.”

“Asshole.”

“Idiot.”

“Stupid.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Tobio tried not to feel embarrassed about the fact that Mrs. Hinata hadn’t even offered an extra fuuton. Shouyou didn’t look bothered, it wasn’t the first time they shared the same bed. The boy said good night to his mom and sister and then lazily walked to the bed, where Tobio was lying on his stomach, Reading something on his phone.

“What you’re doing?” Shouyou asked as he curled up next to him like a snake. Tobio didn’t look away from his phone and continued typing.

“Yamaguchi.”

“Ahn!? You’re doing Yamaguchi!?” he gasped.

“ _What? Oh_...! Oh... no, you... you dumbass.” He replied while Shouyou laughed. Tobio turned away the phone so he couldn’t read.

“What those idiots want now?”

"Don’t worry, I was the one who called actually.” Tobio answered in a low voice and Shouyou looked at him carefully. Had something happened? Why was Tobio talking to Kei again? Tobio noticed the boy's apprehensive look and smiled, giving him a kiss on the temple. "You're cute when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” He replied, clearly annoyed that Tobio could read it so easily. The brunette smiled and continued to type.

"I called to apologize about all the mess. My life has taken a big turn, and... now with you I can officially say I'm okay and really believe in myself. I didn’t want to leave a part of my past hurt and bruised like this, you taught me that.” he bit his lip “So I thought about apologizing about the mess I made, and... wish them a happy life.”

Shouyou watched him silently before sinking his head back into his shoulder, the curls tickling his skin.

"You give them too much credit. They were the ones who supposed to apologize to you."

“He did.” Tobio shook the phone with a weird smile on his lips. “At least, Yamaguchi did. I wouldn’t expect Kei to do it.”

“Beam pole.”

Tobio laughed softly and ended their conversation in silence. Slowly Shouyou's breathing calmed to the point that Tobio could tell that he had fallen asleep. He reminded him of an electric child who ran around all day and complained at the time he was obliged to go to bed, but as soon as his head fell on the pillow, he extinguished like a candle. Tobio closed the conversation with Yamaguchi, still unanswered because the boy was probably sleeping, and looked to see if he had any further notification.

What really caught his attention was the lack of them.

The message box he’d opened with his own mother some time ago was empty. Since the confusion with the Red/Hinata thing, she hadn’t said anything else, and he thought it was time to sort it out. Shouyou remembered his presence with a sigh and Tobio looked at the redhead sleeping beside him. Slowly and unconsciously, Tobio had repaired every bit of Shouyou's past life, and seeing him sleep in peace or with a truly happy smile was a more than a reward, but it also reminded him that he wasn’t the only one with trouble there. Tobio thought of his parents, far away, still in Miyagi, how his mother probably lay in bed in silence while his father watched television with a grimace, life too unhappy since...

Tobio looked at Shouyou once more.

"Who's saving who’s here?" He whispered in a low voice smiling. The sleeping boy didn’t even move. With a dash of courage, Tobio opened the conversation and sent her a text message.

 

 

 

 

> **From:**  ME
> 
> **To:** MOM
> 
> **Subject:** Maybe?

_It's been a while since I've sent news, sorry I guess. Things have been crazy and there’s so many things happening at the same time that I think I’m going crazy. Healty as a horse tho, don’t worry. Could I visit any day? Talk would be nice. Let me know? Sleep well. With love, Tobio._

 

 

He found himself shocked at how easily the words came out and didn’t even remember at a time he couldn’t stare at his phone, afraid that his parents would find him. It seemed like a lifetime ago, not just a couple of months. Once more he looked at Shouyou asleep beside him. Who was that kid and how was he doing that? Even though he was rude, troublesome and slightly an asshole, he was just like a sun, lighting the way even if he didn’t mean to. Tobio blocked the phone and lay down better, pulling Shouyou by the waist closer to him.

_As long as you’re here, I'm invincible._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! We'll see each other iin a few days.  
> And oh boy, look at me... quoting Haikyuu!! into a Haikyuu!! fic.


	13. You never painted the sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked how this chapter turned out! It took me a while to translated it because I was trying so hard to don't let it slip anything and I'm 1001% sure I did. 
> 
> While I was translating I thought to myself that time was a little bit confuse in this for those who don't have the whole story in their mind, so I decided to make a simple guide:
> 
> • Tobio it's 20 y.o. and Shouyou 21.  
> • Shouyou was 13yo when he killed his father and It's been 7/8 years.
> 
> • Tobio met Kei at 16, they started dating at 17 (I think like... September? Tobio was almost turning 18) and moved to Tokyo when he was 19 (in July, I guess). Oct/Nov was when he found out about Yamaguchi. Yay. Happy new year Kags! So at all, Tobio and Kei dated for like... 1 year and two months?  
> • In January he met Yachi, and in February he started working at Heaven's and that's where our story begins.
> 
> • Right now they are in July again (So a year since Tobio moved), and the semester it's over!
> 
>  
> 
> Confusing right? Ugh blame me. If you have any questions, please ask here or on my tumblr (dearshouyou) and I'll explain it! ♥  
> Have a good chapter!

 

“Oh!” Yachi sighed with her eyes closed. "I'm gonna miss this place. Suga, promise me you'll report weekly! I need to know how the matrix will be doing while we open the franchises!” She gave a pirouette, making Tobio smile behind the counter. "I'd leave with Lev, but... better not. So you two are in charge, okay?”

Suga saluted and Tobio smiled, nodding. The girl was standing in the middle of the store holding a huge pink bag, big enough to fit another Yachi. At first, people would think that maybe it was a vacation, but they knew it was actually definitive. Kiyoko had an irreproachable job offer in Yokohama, and Yachi was moving in with her. It was basically all the encouragement she needed to keep the store open in Tokyo and open the first Heaven's franchise.

She'd spent weeks organizing, looking for someone to work as a manager in her place before finally realizing she already had the perfect managers. Suga and Tobio worked together as a couple of maestros, and the shop would flow perfectly in their hands.

"Don’t worry, Yachi!” Suga nodded and she gave him a quick hug.

"We'll see each other soon, I promise! I’ll come to visit my family too! And Kageyama, keep an eye on Red, please don’t let him do anything stupid. Well... stupid-er. Ah! And in Lev too! You know what he is like.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and jumped in place before smiling and waving goodbye, out the door before her heart forced her to stay.

Suga shrugged and looked at Tobio, raising his hand to a high-five.

"Nice job, manager. Let's get to work.”

“Osu!” Tobio replied, returning the act. It wasn’t the first time Tobio had thought about it, but the day he too would have to leave this place would be sad. It was funny how quickly he fell for that place, the environment, and the green tone mixed with too many colors. Heaven's would always be a part of his life that he would keep in touch with, even if his future was destined to be in a gallery or in a museum.

Suga ran to the cold room on the second floor, preparing to water the roses, and Tobio went to the window, exchanging the daisies and throwing away a few ones. Already familiar with the routine of his day, he wasn’t startled when the entrance bell rang and greeted over his shoulder.

"Shouyou, can you get the scissors on the counter for me?”

“I just came in, actually to congratulate you and I'm already being attacked, honestly.” He sighed but obeyed at the same time. Tobio heard Suga laugh upstairs and Shouyou screamed a little louder. “S’up, Suga?”

“Red. How you’ve been?” He returned the greeting. The nickname was really hard to detach, but Shouyou was used to and answered by any name by now. He smiled as he gave the scissors to his boyfriend.

“No fights, no fuss on the studio and zero unsatisfied customers this week.” He said proud of himself.

“I'm impressed.” Suga scoffed upstairs, but he seemed to be smiling. Shouyou sat on the edge of the window while Tobio finished straightening the bow without looking at him.

"How did you know it was me?" Shouyou asked.

“I smelled dumbass.”

Shouyou kicked him.

“See?” Tobio smiled but explained “If the bell rings but the door is already closing it means that whoever entered was really fast or really angry, usually you’re both. It’s not hard to guess. How did you know you needed to congratulate me tho?” He asked without looking down. Shouyou distracted himself by twining a small lock of his hair.

"I found Yachi crying outside, so I asked what happened.”

"Wow, now I'm impressed too," Tobio said finally looking at him. "You _do_ care.”

“Fuck you.” Shouyou complained and Tobio laughed. Their relationship never really changed from that, especially in public, but Tobio couldn’t ask for better. It was like having the best friend and boyfriend in the same person, and he just needed to push a button to shift bewteen them. "Our visit it’s still up? If you want to cancel, it’s fine, we can have lunch at my mother’s place. Natsu will be happy to see you again, for sure.”

"Nah, I appreciate it, but it’s alright." Tobio sighed and lowered the scissors “I’m trying not to think about it, but it’s hard.”

"Don’t worry! I'll finish your father before he gets to you.” Shouyou suggested giving him a sweet smile and it was Tobio's turn to kick him.

"I'm not gonna let you hit my dad, idiot.” Shouyou shrugged and Tobio sighed once more. "My mom spent everyday since the last week preparing this thing. I don’t think she’ll let him do anything.”

“Well, I do hope not.”

Suga went down the stairs at a brisk pace, some yellow roses in his hands as he wrapped them in a white paper, like a bouquet. He seemed surprised about the subject and stopped right in front of the counter.

"You’re gonna visit your parents?" He asked in shock, and Tobio nodded.

"Since Shouyou decided to reunite with his mom, I've been trying to do the same with mine.” He shrugged. "Who knows, maybe our luck will help? After all, I do have something for them to celebrate now, since we’ve finished the semester without problem. Grades work every time.”

Suga nodded and looked at Shouyou this time.

“And yours? How's it going?”

The redhead smiled and started to speak, happy that Suga had asked about his favorite subject. Shouyou, Hinata, Red, whatever he was called now, was a totally different person. He was able to have long conversations with anyone and basically told him everything without even taking a pause to breathe. Tobio knew that he lived with Kenma and Kuroo, and that helped with his social skills, but every time he walked into Ink Oz, the studio was enchanted by the sound of laughter and jokes, and no more music to keep the world out. Now, the world he wanted was right there.

Tobio let them talk, and as soon as he finished he went upstairs to finish packing. If anything happened, Suga would yell at him to go back down. Not that they needed much, they didn’t plan to stay in Miyagi for more than two days, but even so, Tobio seemed to step on eggshells.

 

* * *

 

 

The weekend came slowly now, without classes at the university to distract them in the morning.

Shouyou didn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of facing a family of closed-minded and homophobic people, as if just been able to travel with Tobio was more than enough. Tobio spent a few nights thinking about his decision to bring the boy along. Now, while leaving the train station in Miyagi was too late to regret.

Shouyou was a different sight in that smalll town. He looked like an idol, something too special to be standing into dirty roadways and laughing about squirrels running from cars. That was the kind of boy who didn’t belonged there, in fact, Tobio was almost sure Shouyou belonged to the whole world.

During the bus ride, Tobio struggled to remain calm and distract himself by showing Shouyou everything he could about his past life. The street where he’d grown up, in which way was his old school, where his old friends lived, and so on. It wasn’t much. Miyagi was a small town with small people and small adventures, and perhaps that was exactly why it was so entertaining to Shouyou.

"I can’t believe you grew up here.” He said as soon as they got off at the bus stop.

"Not here, actually. This it’s their new adress.” He said while he checked his phone to see if they were in the right place. “My old home was a lot quieter. It was close to a park and a lot of people used to have picnic there, go fishing or... I don’t know, bring children to run and play.” He replied in a low tone “They weere so loud, I hated them.” He shivered and made a face, causing Shouyou to laugh.

"Natsu and I were loud. Would you hate us?"

“Natsu I don’t know, but if I already hate you now, imagine then.”

"You're in denial, you love me.” Shouyou laughed and stepped forward, dragging his bag behind him. Again with the story of _‘love’_ , Tobio thought. Shouyou had told him something like that the night he met Natsu, but considering it had been a very emotional day, Tobio had let go. Since then, he’d avoided the subject and Shouyou hadn’t repeated it. At least, that gave him something to think about, rather not paying attention to his shaky legs and cold sweat. Deciding it was too early to deal with it and would probably have a long day ahead, Tobio shook his head and left, hurrying after him.

 “Are you alright?” Shouyou asked right after Tobio reached him and held his hand. Unfortunately, Miyagi was facing a hot day, which meant that Shouyou couldn’t wear long layers of clothing to hide his tattoos from Tobio’s father, but at least one long-sleeved blouse he could stand. Tobio hated that he had to cover himself. It didn’t matter if Shouyou had a tattoo like him or ninety, he was still the same dork as always, and that's what people had to see, not the amount of piercings and tattoos he carried. Thinking about it, Tobio reached out to Shouyou’s lower lip.

“I miss your lip ring.” He gave a playful pull and the mischievous glow appeared in Shouyou's eyes.

"When we get back, I'll put it on again, and maybe we can do something."

"There's always something to do when you’re wearing it.” Tobio replied, causing Shouyou to blush, but they both laughed because it was impossible to take the conversation seriously.

"Seriously now... are you okay?" Shouyou asked again and Tobio sighed looking up to the blue sky. Was he? He wouldn’t lie and say that his mind wasn’t spinning or that his demons weren’t screaming all over again. Rough words, rough trues. He remembered his mother’s voice breaking and his father’s face... It was probably a terrible decision to think about all of that, but it wasn’t like he could do anything else.

“I think so. I mean... they already told me everything they had to. Don’t think it can be much worse. At least, I hope so. Promise to behave?”

"I promise not punch your old man."

“That wasn’t what I’ve meant.”

They finished the rest of the way in silence and finally reached the house number his mother had given him. It was a small house all painted in white. The garden didn’t had any type of plants, but it was well cut and had a small sign saying: ‘Don’t step on the grass’. The curtains were tight on a small knot and all the Windows were close. It was everything the Hinatas household wasn’t. Cold, controled and empty.

“This is ridiculous.” Shouyou said, letting go of his hand. “Am I the only one feeling... smaller? And before you answer, think twice before mocking my height.”

“If that’s how you’re feeling, it’s the right place then.” Tobio answered and before he could think to much, he went to the doorbell. Shouyou seemed surprised by the direct attitude of the boy, but what he wanted most was to finally do that. He wanted to feel exaclty how Shouyou felt: light. _Free_.

It didn’t took more than ten seconds to someone open the door, a woman dressed in semi-social clothing and with her black hair tied up in a half-half style. Exaclty how she always wore.

“Tobio.” She sighed, not moving. He held up a hand and forced the air to enter his lungs, even thought his brain was paralyzed.

“Hi mom.”

She opened the door without saying anything else, leaning against it to allow their entrance. Tobio could see that it took an effort to allow Shouyou there, but she didn’t said anything and prefered to simply ignore him completely. Well, that was better than a huge scene. She headed towards the kitchen and they followed behind closely.

"I was surprised when you said you'd like to come back, even if... temporarily." She said in a low voice, still with her back turned to him. "Your father is at work, which I think is a good thing. He knew you'd arrive today, of course, but... we have some time.” She looked hesitant, but Tobio didn’t interrupted her. He shrugged even though she couldn’t see him.

“It's all right. I felt like coming back after all of that at least once. Nice house.”

She smiled shyly and then sat down with him. Tobio and Shouyou had talked about the possibilities of what might happen. Ignoring his presence was one. Shouting was another. And unfortunately, physical contact was also one of them. Tobio had made Shouyou promise to stay on the defensive and do nothing. It wasn’t impossible, and if it ended like that, he was the one who had to stand in the way, even if Shouyou was the best with his fists.

“How are you, Tobio?" She asked, holding his hand. Shouyou couldn’t help thinking that the Kageyamas and the Hinatas were really different. Tobio stayed away for like... and year and Shouyou hadn’t contacted his family for almost seven, and his situation was a lot worse and brutal, but when he found him his mom and sister again, he cried. He cried, they cried and they held him and even begged for forgiveness, just like him, but Tobio and his mother looked at each other sadly, as if they would like to put all the disagreements behind and start over, having a single rock in their way that Tobio usually called ‘dad’.

The brunette shrugged.

Shouyou was distracted looking around while Tobio and his mother were talking distantly. He told her more about their semestre and their university, about his new paintings and also how Yachi had made him and Sugawara the managers of Heaven's. Shouyou had to admit it was a surprise, after all Tobio had been working there for only six months and Suga had been there for at least two years. But it made sense. Soon Suga would graduate and probably move, so Tobio should take care of the shop longer. It was nice, seeing the boy really like that damn flower shop. Shouyou pretended not to notice how most of his paintings included flowers.

She seemed delighted to hear about Tobio's life, but a little disappointed too. Maybe because she thought that if he had stayed in Miyagi he would have a better life. Shouyou disagreed. Despite everything bad that happened to both of tthem, it was these decisions that brought Tobio to where he was today: independent, strong, with his own life to take care of and a lot happier.

During all the time they stayed there, Shouyou was ignored. Technically, this was the best result they could get, so he was happy about it. He didn’t need the Kageyamas to like him. Their son was already enough.

It was already dawn when Mrs. Kageyama went to the oven to get the cookies she was preparing. Both boys stayed in the table talking in a low voice, avoiding drawing too much attention. Shouyou was smiling at one of Tobio’s stories when they heard the front door open. The brunnette held his hand in a tight grip and felt his body tensing with the sound of Keys.

“Tobio?” he asked in a low voice, though he already knew what was going to happen. For the first time, Shouyou wondered if he should really be there. Perhaps his presence would worsen the situation but he was too scared to let the boy come alone. Tobio swallowed and released his hand, already standing. His mother stood by the sink, but waited while her husband came into the kitchen.

Shouyou hadn’t even thought about how Tobio's father would be, so he was surprised when a tal and strong man came through the door and froze as he met his son's eyes.

He was wearing social clothing and the tie was loose around his neck. The briefcase he carried didn’t looked heavy, probably only carrying papers. Some sort of office work? It made sense, seeing how his expression was pure stress.

The first thing Tobio did before even greeting him, was stepping aside and putting himself in front of Shouyou to prevent a long analyze. It was probably an unconscious move, but the man realized and foccused on the redhead his son was protecting. Shouyou stopped himself from frowning, so he waited in silence as Tobio raised his hand.

“Hi... I... I came to visit.”

Still in silence, his father hesitated before setting briefcase on the counter.

“Dear.” Mrs. Kageyama spoke in a low voice, basically a warning that he shouldn’t do that. Shouyou focused on the sounds he heard and how Tobio's muscles contracted at the base of his back in anticipation. Her husband seemed to ignore her completely when he came back and went out of the kitchen. Well... that wasn’t... bad. It was? Maybe.

Shouyou reached out and pulled the base of Tobio's t-shirt, making him look over his shoulder.

“It's all right.” He whispered trying to calm his boyfriend down. “I’m okay.”

The brunette sighed and sat down again in the chair besides him. Neither of them noticed that the woman standing there watched them closely, absorbing every detail she could with a curious glance.

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner was... intense. Everyone was eating in silence and no one actually wanted to be there. Shouyou focused on the curry in front of him even if he couldn't focus on the taste. He felt Tobio's foot next to his under the table stirring anxiously, waiting for something bad to happen. The boy looked like an unwanted visitor, and his parents were probably using the technique of ‘don’t talk and it’ll go away soon’. It was disturbing.

“I finished my first semester at university.” Tobio announced, still looking at his own plate.

“Hm.” His dad replied. His mom shot him a disapproving but still wary look, then forced herself to smile.

“I'm glad, Tobio. Are you enjoying it?”

The brunette nodded and looked at her.

“It's a great university. We have technical visits and a lot of practice in the week. It helps a lot with inspiration and technical improvements as well.”

The woman nodded and shot a discreet look at Shouyou, who was still eating with his head down. Tobio noticed, then moistened his lips.

"Shouyou is in the same class as me.” He continued, as if he wasn’t saying anything important. "And we work on twins establishments, so it’s easy." He shrugged. Shouyou lifted his head, surprised to have been thrown into the conversation that way. The woman nodded a little forcedly and took a deep breath. She looked at her husband, watching to see if he showed any reaction besides hungry, and when it turned out not, she stared at Shouyou for the first time.

"I remember when I went there. It's a lovely place. Actually, er... Hin- Hinata-kun,” she looked at Tobio to confirm if she’d gotten his name right. “I would like to apologize.”

Shouyou tried his best not to drop the fork on the porcelain plate.

“P-pardon?” He looked at her surprised as Tobio himself. The woman wiped her mouth with a napkin and sat down better in the chair before looking at him again.

"Since that day, Tobio stopped talking to us again. I never wanted to make a big mess, I just... I was just worried and... I was probably at my limit. You aren’t exactly the type of person I was taught to accept in society,” she said with difficulty but sighed again “but I am willing to try for the sake of my son. You see, I don’t need... to like or... approve anything, but I must at least accept it... and respect it. It’s undeniable that having you as a friend made Tobio happier.” She looked at her son, who was staring back at her in shock. "Then I'm sorry for everything I said and did that day. It was rude.” She finished looking at her plate. Normally, after a apologize of that scale people would bow, but that was twenty times more than Shouyou imagined that Mrs. Kageyama could do, so after a moment in shock he straightened his shirt, got up and made the bow himself.

"I’ll do my best to help your son as I can, Mrs. Kageyama-kun. It’s a promise." He said in a low voice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a warmer look on Tobio's mom face and the surprise of his sudden upbringing. For a moment he let himself hope that maybe one day she might like him. Tobio took a few sips from the glass of water in front of him, trying to push down the lump that kept him from breathing. Everything was going better than planned, until a pat on the table made everyone look at the man sittingg there.

“How dare you.” He said looking at the plate, but Shouyou realized instantly that it wasn’t directed at him. Tobio froze in his seat and looked at his plate while he waited. Shouyou let himself be surprised for a moment. Earlier, Tobio would have knelt down and beggegd his father to don’t say anything else, that he already knew and wasn’t coming back again, but life had brutally strengthened him and he’d learned to deal with heavy situations just like Shouyou did, so he simply waited. "What? One time wasn’t enough? You had to drag another of them to my house. And now, it talks back at us.”

The man's voice was filled with disgust, so much so that even Shouyou felt in the air. Tobio lowered his fork carefully on the plate and looked at his father.

“You know who I am. My mother knows who I am. I asked if I was welcome to dinner and bring a friend, and the answer I got was ‘yes’. So I dare.” He said quietly. "I said something like what I'm gonna say now to mom when she visited me in Tokyo: This is not about Shouyou. This is not about Kei either. This is about me.”

His father took a deep breath and finally looked back at him. Shouyou realized that he also had blue eyes, just like his son and wife. Maybe it was another trait they were looking for in the lineage? If it was, Shouyou was more than fucked up. Damn brown eyes.

"It's not her house. It's mine. It's my permission you need, and if it is to bring a fag here, the answer is ‘no’.”

Shouyou forced his head up at the slang used, looking only at Tobio. Surprisingly the boy looked completely calm, like someone who’s been through worse.

“This house belongs to both of you. I’m son of both of you as well. As long as my mother wants me here, I’ll come.”

Mr. Kageyama looked at his wife, who looked down, as if blaming her for bringing that kind of people under her roof. He picked up the fork once more and went to the food with a lot more than necessary strength.

“Outrageous. We shouldn’t even be feeding you, they're worse than dogs. You“ he looked at his son “are a disgrace. Squandering in our face because you know we hate it, is this revenge? Bringing a... a” he looked at Shouyou at a glance, his eyes flickering on all the patterns on his skin, his hair that looked dyed and the cold eyes staring back at him. “an freak of this.”

Tobio filled his mouth to answer, but who took a deep breath and shot first was Shouyou.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He asked in a low voice, but didn’t wait for the man’s answer. Shouyou felt Tobio pull at the edge of his shirt, but that didn’t stopped him. "Yes, I agree, I am a freak, and I don’t give a damn if you want to call me that all night, but Tobio is not and never were a disgrace to this family. If you at least cared for him like you used to, you would see the wonderful person he’d became.” The table was in silence, so Shouyou continued. "Tobio is the best of our class, probably the best of the whole course. Everything he knows, he learned with you, and he use this in a fantastic way. His paintings are incredible. He has his own house, his own job where he’s actually the manager, and... and... c’mon! He is a prodigy!”

The time froze with Tobio still clinging to Shouyou's sleeve pulling him down, the boy standing looking at the man seated in front of him, who stared back at him in shock. The only person who had a reaction was his mother, who had begun to cry silently.

“Did you know he was praised by all of our teachers and mentors as the most intelligent and talented student in the last years?” Shouyou continued, even with Tobio begging him to sit. “Did you know he was invited to exhibitions directly by the artists in galleries, since he was the only student who really understood what was happening? Did you know that he's probably the only person in all fucking Tokyo that’s gonna graduate in a course like ours with top grades? What matters who he loves, or for whom he’s loved? It doesn’t matter if you disapprove, it's not your choice, it's his. And he's happy about it. What exaclty do you want more than a prodigy, talented, intelligent, happy and loved son?”

No one moved. The silence prevailed for a few more moments before the man rose slowly. Shouyou felt Tobio's hand on his wrist tighten enough to stop the flow of blood, but the boy still didn’t lift his head.

"Get the hell out of my house." Mr. Kageyama announced in a low voice as he rose from his chair. Shouyou felt instantly guilty, but only because of Tobio. He didn’t regret saying all of that, tho. "Get out of my house, you freak!" He shouted and took a step towards Shouyou. Tobio stood up so fast he almost lost his balance, but he was able to put Shouyou behind him, hiding his entire frame of his father and closed his eyes, waiting for the fist that... never came.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” Tobio opened his eyes, staring at his father in front of him with his fist raised... and the woman who entered in the middle of them, leaving Tobio (and Shouyou) behind her. "Don’t you dare to raise your hand to hit my son. Not again.”

Not again? Shouyou blinked in confusion and looked at the back of Tobi's head, just in front of him and he saw that the boy was shaking. It made a little more sense that he was afraid of his father. He practically felt it when Tobio had to breathe, his body begging for oxygen.

“Tobio.” She called still on her back, but definitely calmer. “Can you give us a moment, please?”

Tobio hesitated as he looked over his mother, but he slowly began to step back, still holding Shouyou behind him and pushing him off the room, out of reach of his parents. Not wanting to hear the discussion that followed, Tobio closed the glass door and leaned his head against the cold wall as the wind from outside ruined his hair. Shouyou took a deep breath and looked at the frozen boy instead.

"I didn’t know he'd hit you." He whispered.

Tobio shrugged and looked at him sideways.

“At the dinner with Kei. The black eye lasted a week. It was a good ‘have a nice travel’ amulet.” He sighed. "Damn, Shouyou, I told you to behave.”

“I didn’t even go at him!” Shouyou exclaimed “Tobio, listen to me. Your father is an asshole. And he needs to understand that you are so much more than he thinks you are. Okay, maybe what I did was wrong. Okay, what I did was definitely wrong so forgive me for it, and blah blah blah whatever the hell you wanna hear, but I don’t regret it.” He finished seriously. "And stop putting me behind you, you idiot. We both know who can handle better situations like this, you don’t have to protect me!”

"It was instinct.”

He could hear screaming from the inside, but couldn’t discern what was happening. Shouyou sighed and leaned back besides Tobio on the wall. The boy stayed like that until he regained total control of his body. That was the last result they wanted, but technically it wasn’t unexpected. Both Tobio and Shouyou were waiting for the explosion. The redhead listened Tobio's breathing as he distracted himself staring up at the sky. Miyagi's sky was ten times brighter and cleaner than Tokyo, and he could count several constellations and stars.

"You never painted the sky." Shouyou commented.

“Is too hard. Working with solid colors it’s hard. Green, blue, red...” he looked at Shouyou sideways and both laughed at the pun. Shouyou took a deep breath and looked at Tobio again.

“Yeah, I know I'm complicated. Sorry to tie you to someone like that.” Shouyou stretched his hand and Tobio took it, giving a brief kiss on the inside of his wrist, feeling the warmth of his skin. He watched as Tobio kept his hand there, trying to focus on his pulse to distract him from what he was hearing. They were so similar at some points. Shouyou took him by the hand and dragged him to the other side of the garden, out of reach of the sound. “I'm sorry for what I did. But like I said, I don’t regret it.”

"I didn’t know you thought of me that way." Tobio said embarrassed and Shouyou shrugged.

“I love you.”

Tobio stared at him in silence, and for a moment he was baffled by how Shouyou seemed to shine beneath the stars. It was as if each of them recognized him as their own kind and decided to enlighten him. The orange hair lost some of its tone, but his eyes compensated, carrying the whole sky. Tobio just came out of the trance when Shouyou turned his face to him and smiled shyly.

“It's okay. You don’t have to love me back.”

Tobio shook his head and put both hands on Shouyou's neck, forcing him to look at him.

“What are you talking about? You... damn it, Shou... you really need to warn me before these things... I do, of course I do... you just got me out of surprise.”

 _Shou_. He could’ve melted right there. Wow, what a sappy thought... Putting that aside, Shouyou smiled and stood on tiptoe, placing a quick kiss on Tobio's lips and smiled once more. In silence, he sent a prayer to anyone he was listening to and a thank you for putting stupid Kageyama Tobio in his life. He understood now when Tobio had told him that life was a mess, because he still remembered when both of them almost punched each other every day and how slowly turned into something so big he couldn’t fit into himself.

Was it possible to fall in love with someone a second time?

“Tobio?” They heard a voice and jumped apart, taking a step away from each other. Mrs. Kageyama stood on the door frame with a heavy look, but somehow pleased with herself. "Can we talk?"

 

* * *

 

 

Tobio left Shouyou waiting in the guest room and begged the boy not to leave until he came pick him up. According to his mom, his father went out and would probably end up in some pub. It wasn’t his typical behavior, so they didn’t worry, but it was better that way. Tobio helped his mother to stock the food and then he washed the dishes while he listened to her.

"We thought something like that could happen, I mean... your father is a complicated man, and... your friend is not exactly smooth.”

Tobio swallowed.

"You know he's a little more than my friend, right?" He ventured. "At least now. Back at when you’ve met him we were just friends, and... barely that." He didn’t look back but heard his mother sigh hard, knowing that was a very hard subject for her.

"Yes, Tobio, I know. I... I'm trying to get used to it.”

“Since when?” He asked shocked, looking over his shoulder and his mother didn’t stop a muffled laugh from escaping.

“Since now.” She looked up at him and tried to smile as natural as she could, looking so scary as Tobio when he used to do that. "You’re my only son. And then you left. And then I had no one. I know the taste of it, and I decided I didn’t like it. So between having you and having to accept the kind of person you feel... a-attracted to or not having you at all, I prefer the first option.”

Tobio raised his eyebrows surprised, but he understood.

"You'll probably be the only one." He said staring back at the sink “Dad will never forgive me.”

“Yes, he will.” She said, trying to convince herself first. "He feels the same way, Tobio. You... you’ve always been his light, he's just confused and... scared. We were taught this is wrong and unnatural, so he just feels... I'm sorry. I don’t think I had the right word, but he doesn’t hate you. And I’ll talk with him a lot about this.” She sighed. "Maybe... he'll understand some day."

"Thank you for stooding up for me." Tobio said quietly. “That didn’t happened last time... But tonight was different. And stooding up for Shouyou as well. I know you still don’t like him that much, and I understand that, he really is tough, but... I don’t know where I would be today if it wasn’t for him. Shouyou saved me in so many ways, ways that I didn’t believed he could, even if I did the same thing for him. We’re very different and we balance each other. He's my best friend, and... I really like him. So thanks?”

She smiled once more and set the table according to what she believed it was the best way. Tobio watched as she tried to arrange the flowers harmoniously completely failing. He quickly wiped his hands on his trousers and ran to her rescue, gently taking the bouquet from her hand before making a beautiful arrangement, hoping that in a certain way that could be seen as a fresh start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I have to stop hurting my fictional characters, since they already suffered a lot.  
> Me later that day: *inserts angst*  
> Also me: *pikachu shocked meme*
> 
> ONE MORE THING. If you read this story so far you probably realized that my keyboard it's a dumbass that keeps repeating some letters, so you've probably saw something like "thiis" or "thatt", and bOY I'M TRYING to catch all of this small mistakes, but I know I didn't because I still find a few in the first fucking chapter, so bear with me lovelies, It's my keyboard I swear.  
> I'll find them. I promise. 
> 
> See you in a few days! xx Love you all


	14. May our farewells be an eternal reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is our last official chapter, the next one being the epilogue.  
> There's a time gap on this one, you'll realize. Not too long, but enough too make a difference, and why not add a little smut again?
> 
> I'll leave my last words on the next one, that shall be updated still today.  
> Thank you all of you.  
> For everything.

“To our parents, our most sincere gratitude for all the way you’ve pushed us forward, and our homage to those who left, leaving the memory of their presence. Feel proud of the great steps we’ve taken and will do in the future in front of us.

To our friends, our faith. We were united in the beginning with a common goal, and when the time came there were commitments, friendships and differences, which taught us to live together and to respect. Team, many challenges await us. We have a long journey. This is the moment to celebrate together our first conquer and all the yearning that’ll remain.

To our teachers, our thanks for transmitting your knowledge, not only during class but also everyday. You’ve given us the start for a path that we’ll follow all the time, shaping us into a great family.

To everyone, know that a farewell is necessary before we can meet again. May our farewells be an eternal reunion.”

As the girl bent at the end of the speech, the crowd erupted into cheers as the graduating students shot their academic caps to the sky. Tobio could see Suga from far away thanks to the boy's light hair, and he whistled and clapped his hands, trying to make himself heard from the distance. It wasn’t hard, since he was followed by all the boys from Ink Oz plus Lev. As soon as the speech was over, Iwaizumi and Kuroo raised Shouyou on their shoulders and chaos broke out inside the hall.

“WOOOOOO! You go, Suga! Slay them, babe!” Shouyou shouted over the noise, and they saw Suga blush and laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t just him who looked in their direction, after all three punks full of piercings and tattoos jumping from one side to the other wearing suits and social clothes wasn’t something you saw everyday. Lev clapped at them besides Tobio and he had to elbow the russian boy, reminding him never to encourage that kind of madness. On the other side, Kenma seemed to be thinking the same thing as he tucked a strand of blond hair behind his ear, watching as they continued to jump. It was a brief glimpse, but Tobio was paying attention as Shouyou unbalanced from their shoulders and almost fell back.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough.” he said, missing ten years of his life and pulling Shouyou down by the suspenders. He held his weight until the boy finally laid his feet on the ground.

"You're boring, Tobio.” he cried.

"And you're irresponsible, but I don’t shove that on your face all day." the taller one said as he adjusted Shouyou's clothes in place and returned his bow tie to the right place. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kenma casting a serious glance in the Kuroo’s direction, which immediately made the boys stop.

Tobio watched as Yachi and Shimizu come from another row towards them laughing. They’d been invited but couldn’t stay for long, after all they lived far away now. The blonde had tears in her eyes, as if she had just seen her own first born graduate. Suga reached them at the same moment and hugs were exchanged.

"Oh, Koushi, promise you'll still help Tobio if he needs it? I feel so insensitive in letting him take care of the shop by himself.” She whimpered, holding of both their arms and Suga laughed.

"You’re worried about Tobio? You should be worried about me! He’ll be fine without my help,” he shot Tobio a wink. “but he can call me whenever he needs it."

The brunette bowed once more with a smile on his lips. It was true that Tobio would be fine. If there was something he was used to, was Heaven's, which had become his home. He didn’t think he could possibly live without that flower shop anymore, and even if he agreed that he might need more employees, now that Suga had graduated and was leaving, he was proud to be the one and only manager.

“Yo!” An exclamation drew all the attention of troublemakers. Kuroo and Iwaizumi almost looked like Kenma's bodyguard, while the blond stood in the middle, his nose stuffed into a console biigger than his hands. "Should we go to Sawamura's to celebrate? He's a friend of yours too, isn’t he?”

The ashen haired one nodded with a smile and gradually the whole group said yes. They waited for Suga say goodbye to his parentes after receiving a proper congratulations, leaving his mom crying and using her yellow scarf to dry her eyes.

Fortunately, Iwaizumi and Kenma could drive. They split into two cars and were chatting all the way through, Kuroo challenging Shouyou to see who could get drunk faster. Sawamura's was the most frequented bar on campus because it was close to everything. A few years ago the former owner retired, leaving the establishment to his oldest son Daichi, who had grown on the same street as Suga. Both were very close friends, which made it a good place to celebrate. The bar was expansive and was trimmed in dark lights, leaving a comfortable atmosphere.

They chose to sit near the window, where they could make all the noise they wanted without anyone kicking them out. Iwaizumi raised his hand and Daichi, who was behind the counter, waved back.

“The usual?” He shouted in question. Iwaizumi lifted his fingers to the number of people they were and Daichi saluted, shouting at his younger brother. “Eijun! 10 beers on the table 14, get your ass out up!”

They waited for the drinks to be delivered while they listened to Suga's version of his own graduation. Apparently a girl had stumbled into that morning's practice, and they were so scared that she would fall again that when she was actually called the whole group laughed, but she was able to walk perfectly and managed to maintain her own dignity. Daichi brought the beers on a tray soon after. He handed one to each of them and the took a sip of the tenth, sitting on the bench next to Suga. The boy repeated the whole story to his childhood friend, and as time went by the number of cans began to increase.

It was practically a habit for Tobio to take the can away from Shouyou from the moment he started to laugh by himself. Not being a jackass, but Shouyou was too loud when he drank, and most people at that table didn’t want to hear details of certain things he was willing to share. Soon the laughter turned into whispered conversations and the music playing in the background was making Tobio relaxed. When he felt the first drop of sleep, he nudged Shouyou into the ribs making him jump and signaled for them to leave.

They said goodbye quickly, it wasn’t the last time they would see each other. As soon as Tobio stepped out of the reach of the song and found the cool breeze outside the pub, he felt more awake. Shouyou was still talking about something that Kenma told him, something about a new console for a new Pokémon game. He let the boy's voice distract him as they returned home.

As soon as Shouyou entered through the door he yawned, stretching his arms up like a cat and making his shirt rise slightly, revealing a glimpse of pale skin.

"I can’t believe Sugawara graduated. I mean, it looks like it was just yesterday I started talking to him for real.” He said, throwing himself on Tobio's couch and taking off his shoes with his feet. "We're old, Tobio.”

Tobio took off his own shoes and sat down on the couch besides Shouyou. The redhead opened the first buttons of his shirt with quick finggers, leaving his neck open and then massaged it, glancing sideways at his boyfriend.

“You're tense. Been for a few days, actually. What happened?” He asked directly. The brunette sighed and ran his hand through his hair. It was true that for the last week he'd been rehearsing how he could bring the subject to the boy in a not-so-sappy way. He’d talked to Suga and had gone as far as to sending a message to Yamaguchi about it. Shouyou watched him carefully, like a deer caught in the flashlight that was still deciding whether to run or not. Before he made that decision, Tobio sighed and threw himself on the couch, covering his eyes with his arm.

"You practically sleep the here the whole week and Kuroo mentioned that he'll graduate next year and probably stay at home longer, and I've been wondering if you don’t..." He finished the sentence in a voice too low for Shouyou understand. The redhead just leaned on the couch trying to get closer.

“If I what?” He asked in confusion and Tobio sighed again, this time resting his elbows on the couch to absorb Shouyou's features.

"If you wouldn’t like to move in."

Like a forest at night, the apartment was silent. Shouyou blinked twice and returned to his starting position, alarming Tobio.

"Of course, you don’t... you don’t _have to_ if you don’t want to, I mean... it's just an offer! Since you spend most of the time here I t- thought maybe... maybe it was... my apartment isn’ much, I mean, and- I live on a flower shop, on the attic actually, but...” he stuttered but Shouyou interrupted him, turning to look at Tobio with a small smile on his lips.

"I'd love to move in with you, Tobio.”

Tobio sat down slowly, looking back at Shouyou at the right height.

“Are you sure? I mean, I know it's not much, and I only have one single bed, but... it's close to Ink Oz, like, literally on the side, and... we'd always be together." The redhead nodded, shaking his curls. Tobio let out the breath he was holding and closed his eyes. He would allow himself to feel happy in a moment, as soon as he could stabilize his breathing back to normal, but he never had that chance. As he took the first breath, Shouyou attacked him by throwing him back on the couch and trailing his leg over his waist, sitting on his lap.

“What... what are you doing?” Tobio asked between the kisses, noticing with his lips the smile that the boy had.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know, you were the one who taught me.” Shouyou groaned as his fingers slid open the buttons of Tobio's shirt with a scary speed.

"Of course I know, I jus- Oh God," he interrupted, throwing his head back as Shouyou found the junction of his shoulder and neck with kisses. He felt the scrape of his teeth lightly and then a bite. “Ouch! Your prick, you love marking me!”

“It's because you're mine.” He answered as soon as he let go, and then found another spot, causing Tobio to cry again. The boy continued to stroke kisses and Tobio spent this time trying to take off the boy's t-shirt, which went to the floor in seconds with a lot of practice. When Shouyou lowered his mouth and bit his collarbone, Tobio pushed his hips up, looking for more friction and moaned softly. He could hear the smile in Shouyou's voice. “Oh I'm sorry, am I going to fast for you?”

Tobio replied pulling Shouyou's hip down by the front of his pants, finally conecting their bodies. Shouyou moaned and leaned his head against his chest as he absorbed the sensations.

“You want this.” Tobio took the lead “Don’t you? You love it. You always make me horny and watch me while I crumble.” Using an arm as support, Tobio wrapped the boy around the waist and switched both of them on the couch carefully, laying Shouyou's body in front of him, always surprised at how easy it was to handle him. “Now face the consequences.”

"Tobio..." Shouyou groaned, closing his eyes. The brunette reached down to the groin that in his pants and pressed against it, gaining one more moan from the boy. Tobio took his time, too busy with his mouth on one of the boy's nipples and his arms holding him in place. “For fucks sake, stop teasing!”

Tobio smiled and knelt in front of the boy, unbuttoning his social pants and pulling it off easily. He would never not be amazed at how beautiful Shouyou was. The brown eyes looked red and burning, almost the same color as his hair, which were honestly more and more messed as he tied his own fingers on it. Tobio had to stop for a moment and stare at that image.

"Are you going to stand there and look?" The redhead mocked and bit his lips, grabbing the black ring with his teeth.

"That's what you deserved for leaving me like this at this time at night." Tobio replied pulling the boy's hand and placing it over his erection to prove his point. Shouyou laughed and leaned on his elbows, reaching a better angle to talk to him.

“Sorry for being mean.” He said in a child's voice and deliberately pouted, pushing his lower lip forward and blinking his eyes slowly and looking at Tobio from beneath his lashes. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“Fuck you.” Tobio snarled. He didn’t know if he had answered or just cursed the boy, but whatever it was, it worked out. He bent his head back to his kisses and came down from the couch, kneeling in front of the boy layed in front of him. He pulled one leg to the side, turning his body to face him, with Tobio in the middle of his legs and Shouyou moaned in anticipation. Tobio mouthed him over his underwear and felt as thin fingers gripped his hair. He wasn’t really sad to leave his friends at the bar now, if he was honest. Tobio looked at the boy as he slowly stretched out his tongue to rub against his head over the fabric.

“Fucking teaser, god damn it!” Shouyou grunted, but Tobio could see his huge dilated pupils and could feel the speed of his breathing. Deciding to give a little more, he lowered the elastic and pulled his lenght out, instantly embracing him with his lips. “Fuck.”

He kept a slow pace, just the opposite of what the boy was needing to finish it. He let his tongue run from the bottom to the tip and then raised the pressure with his cheeks.

“I need more, please... please, Tobio...”

Shouyou whimpered as Tobio released him with a pop and ran quickly to the dresser close to the bed where he stored lube. When he came back he put Shouyou's lenght on his mouth again and reached him with his previously prepared fingers.

“Keep going... You know I can take it.”

Tobio's groin pulsed inside the trousers that still kept it confined. He made a mental note to wait, so he could finish Shouyou first. Dropping his mouth for just a brief moment, he blew fresh air, making Shouyou shiver.

“Beg for it.” He threatened, letting his fingers gently touch where the boy wanted most.

“Please. Please.” His voice trembled a second time. Tobio released his mouth and gave him a kiss on the inside of his thighs as he let his fingers slip in without finding much resistance. He watched Shouyou's body tremble above his and heard his breath fail as he tried to swallow probably unworthy sounds.

“What now?” Tobio asked in a low voice.

It took the boy a few moments to answer, but when he did he was smiling.

“Make me scream, make my legs shake, c'mon let's see if you can...” he grunted. Tobio bit him on the thigh and obeyed with a laugh. He didn’t know why Shouyou was saying these things if they both knew he could do it too well. It didn’t took more than five minutes to reach the point where the boy was almost whimpering, the prostate abused again and again.

When Tobio finally sank inside his boyfriend, he felt like crying. He knew that Shouyou was moaning on his neck, though he couldn’t identify any words, but the flood of feelings and gratitude and love he had for this little being in his arms was so much that he wanted to stay there, and never again let it go. Make the matter that Shouyou's body was made become his. The redhead seemed to understand when he grabbed his shoulders and kept their eyes linked as he thrusted Tobio to take them to the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I'm aware this is ridiculously small.  
> Yes, I'm sorry.
> 
> PS: DID ANYONE NOTICED WHAT I DID TO DAICHI'S BROTHER?!


	15. EPILOGUE: All the time in the world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for following me in my weird AU.  
> Have the last chapter.

 

The night was as starry as if he was staring into Miyagi's sky.

It had been a sunny day, and the breeze that blew at dusk was lukewarm, causing people to seek for refresh or at least wear a comfortable outfit. Luckily, the gallery had air conditioner. Relief was the first thing they saw on the faces of everyone who walked through the door, from the women who finally let their hair down their backs to the men who would now feel comfortable in their suits, but relief wasn’t the only feature that could be identified. What came next was admiration.

The new gallery that premiered in downtown Tokyo was often considered too small for most artists, but with a lot of hard work and a few painfull hours of painting, it was lot more a secret and magical realm than just a place open for exhibitions. The group of boys had struggled to get it right. As soon as the land was bought, the government no longer took responsibility, leaving them completely to do all the work.

It wasn’t actually a boring task. The afternoons and evenings they spent waking, painting, weeding and also instructing how the building should be built was filled with memories they would carry for the rest of their lifes. If he could choose, he would’ve preferred a larger place, maybe something that could have two floors, but he had fallen in love with this one the moment he’d crossed the door.

Now, with its golden chandeliers, the creme walls and red curtains and carpets, it looked immense and practically a well-known place to a well-known artist. Since it wasn’t that big, you couldn’t just say that it was full or crowded, or maybe you could if you looked at the window to the cars and crowd standing and waiting to enter. And, well... him? He was on his debut night.

That was exactly what Kageyama Tobio was thinking as he waited for the right time behind a curtain. He couldn’t feel the tips of his fingers anymore and the anxiety was killing him. Behind the reddish curtain he could hear small chat and sounds of people impressed. He pinched the tip of the band-aid wrapping his index finger, just above where another callus had showed. He was full of these lately, exactly where the handle of the brush rested on his fingers. _Of course he had overworked_ , he thought as he recalled the 74 paintings exposed by the walls and pillars of his latest acquisition.

The ticking of the clock seemed to be a lie. He was sure that time wass frozen, though the blue eyes followed each movement, leaving it closer to the set time. He could hear the conversation die gradually on the other side as people prepared to see the opening ceremony. Tobio closed his eyes once again and stood there, holding the microphone in his hands as he waited for his signal.

As soon as the sound was heard silence prevailed, and then the video began to play in a projector, initially illuminating the main wall with a few scenes. It was so weird to hear his own voice from the vídeo as himself told his story. The real him kept his eyes on the floor, already knowing each seconds of that film.

He waited as the video showed pieces of his hometown, some pictures of his university campus and even from the shop he’d worked for years and still did. Just as he'd promised himself years ago, he'd never broken contact with that place and remained as the main manager, but now he had employees who stayed there to keep the business going. He smiled as the video turned colorful and watercolors seemed to leak from the screen. They had developed a video that expanded out of the screen, illuminating all the walls at a 360 ° angle and even the people, putting them all into the sea of colors.

As soon as the video ended and he could hear the applause, Tobio stepped out from behind the curtain with a shy smile.

He was right when he’d thought the number of people was too much for the small size of his gallery. Everyone was dressed in social clothes and he could see some familiar faces. He found Suga's hair shining in the distance and he heard Kuroo's voice even without finding him in the crowd. He bowed thanking them a few times until everyone was in silence again.

“Good night.” He began, his voice still hoarse as he spoke into the microphone. “I’m extremely grateful to each one of you for taking a few precious hours of your day and coming to this exhibition. Tonight is just the first of a long month of adventures, and for all those experiences, once again I thank you.” There was a pause and Tobio took a deep breath and prayed to the heavens that his face was not as red as he felt it was. “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. And that's what this exhibition is about. A very important person told me a long time ago that art is the way of your feelings express you, not the other way around. I hope you do find what you came looking for. I’m Kageyama Tobio, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Red's.”

As the applauses roared again, Tobio bowed and waited for the crowd to disperse. Still on top of the stage he watched as their hands went up to point details at his paintings, people smiled and some professional photographers positioned themselves to get the best angle. When everyone had chosen their way to start, only one person was left looking at him smiling.

It was still extremely disconcerting to see Shouyou dressed in formal clothes, but not in a bad way. His black suit contrasted against the white t-shirt and bow tie, but it matched exactly the color of his piercing and tattoos. The sleeves were up, revealing a small glimpse of all the drawings in his body. Tobio took a deep breath and jumped off the stage, walking towards him.

Shouyou smiled as he approached and straightened his blazer.

“You did great.”

Tobio took a deep breath and exhaled through his mouth before nodding.

“Am I still shaking? I think I'm shaking.”

“Don’t worry, I've got you.” Shouyou finished and put a lock of black hair back gently. Most of the people were more interested in exhibition than stopping it for photos, so he could walk through the halls without much interruption.They already knew each and every painting by inch, so Shouyou led them to a far place, where he could watch the whole environment as he leaned against the wall.

He had his arms around the younger man's shoulder, using Shouyou as an amulet so his heart would beat the right way, but it wasn’t exactly working. It never did. Instead he tried to pay attention as the redhead told how was watching the apresentation.

Before he could get lost in his thoughts, he felt Shouyou's small hand pull his sleeve a few times to get his attention.

“Er... Tobes? I think... I think you'll want to sort that out..." he stammered as he gently pointed a person who had just entered through the front door. It had been years since Tobio had seen him, and for a moment he was astonished at how he had changed. His hair was lighter with more white threads and his face showed some wrinkles he couldn’t remember.

Tobio felt himself let go of Shouyou and walk alone towards the man. Like all visitors, he was well dressed and had his hands in his pockets as he looked around.

“Dad.” Tobio called. The man averted his eyes at him and he approached with slow steps. Tobio stayed quiet and watched as he looked around, absorbing the exposure in general.

“They’re all yours?” He asked in a low voice and Tobio gulped, nodding. His father's presence there made no sense at all. The last time they'd seen each other again at an extremely disturbed dinner when Tobio finally decided he was ready to go back home, but that was... at least six years ago. It hadn’t been the last time he went there, but since that day, his father always found an excuse to stay away. In the end, Tobio ended up giving up. The man nodded and moistened his lips. “They’re good.”

“Thank you.” Tobio thanked him, giving a brief look around himself, acknowledging each one of his works.

"Do you think I could see them?" his father asked. Tobio found himself nodding before even thinking straight. After years of ignoring him, he’d simply decided to appear and act as if nothing happened? The only thing that stopped him from causing a scene was the nostalgy. Listening to his voice and sharing his company was a precious gift. Tobio looked over his shoulder at where he and Shouyou were just moments ago, but the redhead was gone. Okay then. He nodded again and started to walk, feeling his father's footsteps behind him.

“It starts right here. I decided to tell the story chronologically, so... here you’ll find some about Miyagi. That was our old house. And... there are also some of Karasuno, and the volleyball team I played when I was younger. Remember?” he continued commenting unanswered about each of his works and by some paintings reporting a court, the gym painted in the sunlight.

"Is that a music studio?" The father asked at some point, pointing to a specific picture.

“Sort of.” He shrugged. "It's about music, I think.”

“It's about _him_. Isn’t it?”

Tobio shrugged once more and decided to take it easy on the rest of the subject.

"Regardless of how things ended, Kei was a part of my life. The time I shared with him helped me grow and become who I am today. Nowadays I don’t feel sad about how things ended, but I'm happy for the good things I've gained from it.”

His father looked at him in silence.

“You’ve changed.”

Tobio looked at him and struggled to smile.

"We have to if we don’t wanna drown in the current."

As they walked, his father stayed in silence again, as if he was thinking of what he could say. It was a strange feeling, becauuse Tobio knew that he used to act with emotion more than with logic. As he passed a hall he saw Yachi and Shimizu holding hands, the blonde showing the other one a picture of some roses, probably telling the story of that day. Tobio remembered exactly: it had been his first arrangement sold in the Heaven's. Farther away, he saw Shouyou and Suga talking to a girl with the same orange hair. Natsu was wearing a gold dress and her hair was tidier than he'd ever thought possible. He turned his father away from them, not wanting to cause trouble and continued the course.

“Tobio.” The brunet stopped and looked over his shoulder. The man had his hands together under his chin and seemed to seek the strength to continue the sentence. "Your mother has been talking to me about you for a long time. I know that I’m not home when you visit, or that I don’t make a single effort, but... she told me... a lot of things.” He said, taking the lead. Tobio followed him carefully. "Things that made me extremely sad, and somehow I didn’t wish they had happened. I know you've changed, and you know I will not. That's how things are, but... I'm trying.”

Tobio froze in place and slowed his pace.

“What?”

“I said I'm trying.” He turned to face his son. “I hate your choices and I’ll always hate them. I’m not your mother, who can grown some kind of acceptance. But... I know my son is a good person, even with the mistakes you made in the past and still do. You'll never forgive me for the things I’ve told you, and I'll never forgive what you do, but... You’re still my son. Only one, in fact. And here I am, because I had to come to your debut night.”

Tobio couldn’t feel his fingertips, and a small part of his brain wondered if his hands were still connected to his arms. The man who looked around, watching frame by frame, was exactly the image he remembered before Kei. He took a deep breath and held the sob trying to escape his throat before answering.

"I'll never forget a second of that night, that’s true. And it stills haunts me. But I had plenty of time to think about it. Whether you like it or not, Shouyou was the one who made me realize one thing: Even if I’m still hurt, I forgave you a long time ago.” He whispered.

Tobio didn’t risk hugging him, already considering that things were moving at a slow speed, but still he was surprised when his father forced a small smile.

“That’s... good.” He said. Tobio nodded, then lifted his head, trying to regain his composure. He watched his father look around again and then bent his head, without having more words to say. It wasn’t exactly needed. They were never going to accept each other, but that... that was something. That was at least one route he could take to have a fraction of his father again.

“Did you like it?” Tobio whispered looking around. Art was the one thing that connected them a long time ago, so... why not use the same thing all over again?

"Yes." He nodded, looking more confident too, as if his purpose had been fulfilled. “They’re very good. Great work with the lamp there. And... in that one the shadow totally changed the context of the painting. Maybe green would do a better work, but you got it with blue.”

Tobio let him finish the simple compliments in silence, trying not to start crying. He knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey. Even after years his mother couldn’t deal with public display of affection between him and Shouyou, and she preferred to live without knowing details, but she could already greet him with a smile. Maybe one day...

He let his father go alone for a while for the exhibition and then went out looking for the orange head on a level below regular people. He found Shouyou talking to Natsu as they shared a drink that looked too fancy to be in the hands of that delinquent.

“... then I bought a new machine, since Kuroo broke mine by hurling it across the shop, but no problem! Kenma helped, after all I'm the best there. We'll probably have to move, did I told you? Yeah, apparently Ink Oz is too small for the amout of customers we're getting. My waiting list is huge, ugh! It’s cool, but annoying either. I didn’t want to leave you...”

"No problem, Nii-chan!” She smiled. "Even if you leave, Heaven's close to Tobio-Nii’s apartament, so we'll still see each other!"

Tobio smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, distracting her from the conversation.

"She's right, you know? One of the privileges of being an employee of Tokyo's largest flower shop is that you can escape for a few moments, especially if you are the new manager. Am I right, Natsu?”

The girl smiled and nodded. There was no one better than her to take his place at Heaven's now that Tobio would be busier with his exhibitions. Years ago, Shouyou had pointed out, considering that Natsu would go to the flower shop at least once a week, even if it was to talk, and sometimes to invite them to dinner, but the girl's performance was fantastic, and even Lev had voted for her to replace him.

"Can I steal your brother for a moment?" he said already pulling Shouyou by the wrist and pushing him away from Natsu in two seconds, but she laughed so he didn’t care. He leaned against a pillar farther away and looked around to see if they had attracted much attention.

“So, how was it?” Shouyou asked immediately and Tobio shrugged, but he still felt his face hurting from smiling, which was already the answer. Shouyou smiled back and rubbed his fingers, a light comfort they could share in public without major problems.

They stood there, in the distant world that belonged only to the two of them for a few moments, taking advantage of the silence of each other to return to their tracks. Tobio felt his heart beat out of rhythm and he was trying to control himself so he wouldn’t cry. Shouyou smiled as he waited for the boy to calm down just to drop the next bomb.

“Tsukishima is here.” He announced suddenly, causing Tobio to raise his head, but he continued before the question came out. “Don’t worry, Yamaguchi is too. They bumped into me a few minutes ago, and... well, he looked... contained. Yamaguchi said they couldn’t miss this, even if you decide to ignore them. I told them you were better about the whole Tsukki-Yama-Tobio situation, that we talked a lot about this, and blah blah blah. It seemed... that they were glad about it?” Shouyou shrugged and rubbed his knuckles again. "Like I said, don’t worry. They seemed happy and... I don’t know, good?”

Tobio swallowed and nodded slowly. He’d really gotten over all his troubles with his past, but that didn’t mean he was okay with Kei, Shouyou and his father in the same place. Luckily, all three were the least likely people to interact throughout the show. He let that thought comfort him before he kissed Shouyou's temple.

They kept walking and following the flow. Tobio started feeling better after paying attention to all the reactions his paintings were receiving. The people who saw them holding hands didn’t say anything, so they didn’t let go. Tobio felt his phone ring in his pocket. _Okay, we’re almost there_. He’d been controlling every single step Shouyou took that nigght through the gallery since the doors opened, and soon it would be time to show him the only work in that place he hadn’t seen. In fact, the exhibition had exactly 75 paintings. The one Tobio had finished at the last minute and decided to keep it a secret, knowing instantly that it would be exposed in the main hall.

He began to guide Shouyou unconsciously towards the separated doors with the red curtain. He stopped right in front of them and slightly touched the golden rope that kept them closed. Taking a deep breath he pulled the redhead in front of him.

“Shouyou.” he called. "You know why the name of this gallery is _Red's_ , right?"

The boy blinked surprised but prepared to answer, already knowing word by word.

"Yeah, you said I've changed your story, both past and future. That's kinda cheesy, Tobio.” He rolled his eyes and waited while Shouyou sighed.

"Not only because of that. The name proves that it’s possible for people to change, learn, evolve, and that everything is not always lost, even when we think so. Life is a mess if we’re being honest, we can’t just believe in something we learn a long time ago, because... things change. The story changes. You've changed, and so have I. And I wouldn't've done half of all these things without you. I remember when I met you for the first time you were the biggest asshole I'd ever come across in my life, and yes, Kei is on the list.”

“Wow, thanks Tobes.”

"But still, for some reason, you trusted me. And I trusted you. And when we figured it out, we were already holding onto each other and... damn it, Shou, you... you changed everything.” Tobio took a minute to control his breathing and tried not to stare into those huge brown eyes. “You were literally the drop that made the difference and I know I'm not lying when I say that you saved me.” This time the redhead looked a little shaken by the words, but didn’t said anything. Tobio took advantage of this to pull him into the hall. It was undoubtedly the most crowded place, and exposed right on the middle of the main wall was a painting.

Bigger than the others, it was placed beneath three rays of light, which made the color more vivid. Not that it was necessary, actually. The whole picture was painted in a single color, but in different tones. The red was vibrant and you needed to calm your eyes to see what was really being shown, but for Tobio, who knew exactly what he’d put on the canvas, it wasn’t hard. The silhouette of the boy looking over his shoulders was clear, showing a shy smile that seemed to contrast with his boiling eyes. His hair was flying around him, curls framing his beautiful face against the wind just as the golden frame around the painting itself. For those who didn’t knew him, he looked just like a boy, or a free spirit of fire, painted in red, orange, wine, apricot, and other shades, but Shouyou had no doubt when he squeezed Tobio's hand practically breaking all his bones.

 “You... you painted... me?” He whispered and dragged his eyes to look at Tobio in complete shock. Tobio pushed a lock of his hair behind his ear and smiled.

“How could I inaugurate Red's without Red?”

“But... but y- you told me that... a long time ago that you didn’t knew how to paint using a single color!” He exclaimed. "You told me in the backyard of your house years ago! W-we were talking... damn, Bakageyama, I don’t even know what we were talking about, but... you told me...”

“That using single colors was extremely complicated.” Tobio agreed with him and nodded. He looked back at the painting, trying to remember exactly what he was thinking when the feeling escaped through his fingers. As soon as he found the right words, he sighed. “Red is difficult. Red is strong and restless and hot. It’s the color that many people use to symbolize love, but it is also the color of anger and _blood_. It’s not actually something bad. Blood is life. Red is warm and terrible at the same time. It’s my favorite color.” He looked back at the boy next to him who looked away quickly, using the corner of his finger to wipe his eyes the quickest he could. Tobio smiled. “I love Red.”

Shouyou laughed. That was a sound no one could get tired of hearing.

"And I thought you were sappy before, creepy stalker." He sighed and looked again at the painting in front of him. “I love you too.”

All the people passed by them. The strangers complimented the work and related it to the gallery’s name, which was not entirely wrong. Others, especially friends recognized the image within a second, others by the name under the frame: INSPI(RED). The two stood in front of that painting longer than necessary. Maybe they would stay there until the exhibition was over. No problem, after all, Tobio and Shouyou had all the time in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this will be long.
> 
>  
> 
> First of all, I wanna say thank you. Yes. Again.  
> Thank you for sticking up with me, with my small chapters, my stupid smuts, my weird reverse Flower/Tattoo studio AU, my ooc, our ship and all of that. This wouldn't've happened without you all.
> 
> Thanks for every single kudo, every single hit, comment, words that made me feel loved and excited to publish again and again. You're the fucking best. 
> 
> By last, I hope you guys liked.  
> I loved writing this story, I had fun and that's what matters  
> We'll see each other soon xx bye-bye, Angel
> 
> "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." Vincent Van Gogh


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